


Apartment 305

by waddled



Series: 305 and Beyond [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, But only a little, Eventual Smut, F/M, Found Families, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Grooming, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Roommates, Swimmer Percy Jackson, bad pacing just very terrible pacing all around i'm sorry, chapters with potentially triggering content will be tagged accordingly, explicit chapters tagged in notes, past trauma, under aged drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:21:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 121
Words: 421,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24225004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waddled/pseuds/waddled
Summary: Annabeth Chase has been perfectly content with being alone - aside from the constant companionship of her best friend. Alone is safer. She likes alone. For years she's gone out of her way to avoid even the suggestion of so much as going on a date, afraid of stirring the ghost in her past.Piper McLean has never been content with being alone - even with the constant companionship of her best friend. Alone is terrifying. She hates alone. For as long as she can remember she's chased after any fleeting thing just too fill the void, while simultaneously closing herself off from anything, anyone, real.On the eve of their final semester of college their worlds get turned upside down, leaving Annabeth and Piper with a choice: take a leap of faith or risk never having the courage to fall at all.At least they know they'll have each other when they come out the other side.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase & Piper McLean, Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: 305 and Beyond [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1774453
Comments: 2933
Kudos: 2208





	1. Chapter 1

“They sent us the wrong fucking pizza!” Piper cried, more indignation and anger in her voice than when she’d caught her ex-boyfriend making out with another girl at a party in the Hampton's two summers ago.

Piper’s new boyfriend, Jason, walked into the kitchen and glanced into the box over her shoulder. “There’s no meat on it, Pipes. No big deal.”

“Of course it’s a big deal,” Piper replied. “We paid for a large, half veggie combo, half extra olives. This is just a cheese, and cheese pizza is boring. My taste buds like to be challenged.”

“Should I call them, then?” he asked, hesitant and confused.

Poor Jason, Annabeth thought. The two of them had only been official for about a week, and had only been on two dates before that. It would be months before he started to understand how to handle Piper McLean, at the very least. Most guys never even got there.

Annabeth, on the other hand, had been handling Piper McLean for years. 

As soon as Piper had let out her wail, Annabeth had started toward the door and begun slipping on her shoes. “I’ll see if I can catch the guy who delivered! Maybe he just got it mixed up with another order.” Only a minute or two had passed since he left – even if he hadn’t had to wait for the elevator, she could probably catch him in the lobby if she hurried. This was not the first time Annabeth had run to catch a delivery person. It would also not be the last.

“Oh! I can–“ Jason had started, but before he could offer to do the deed himself, Annabeth was out the door and scurrying down the stairs at speeds that would have been dangerous for anyone with less practice and agility.

She had lived in this apartment with Piper since the summer before their freshman year of college, which meant Annabeth had almost four full years of practice rushing down these specific narrow steps, but she’d started chasing delivery people for Piper long before that. 

They’d met at a boarding school when they were assigned as roommates in the sixth grade. Piper’s dad was an A-list movie star with too much money and not enough time. Annabeth’s dad was a best selling historical fiction author with too much money and not enough time. They’d been best friends ever since, more or less.

Annabeth’s willingness to chase down unsuspecting delivery people went beyond their friendship, though. The very first time they’d had a delivery mishap was when Piper had just decided to go vegetarian, their sophomore year of high school. They’d ordered Italian to their dorm, which they weren’t supposed to do and had been especially challenging since they didn’t have their own phones. Piper’s eggplant marinara had been chicken instead. The realization had broken Piper down into tears. 

Chicken itself didn’t bother Piper too much (aside from the problem that now this poor chicken’s sacrifice had been wasted because Piper wasn’t going to eat it), but their school’s cafeteria served shit for vegetarian food, and that eggplant marinara would have been the best meal Piper’d had in weeks. Annabeth wasn’t going to let Piper’s night be completely ruined, so she’d rushed barefoot down the stairs and confronted the guy who’d delivered. It had taken another hour, but Piper got her eggplant and Annabeth became her hero.

Annabeth liked being the hero, she liked being Piper’s hero most of all, so she had continued to chase after the people who delivered wrong orders. Only, though, when it was Piper’s order that was incorrect.

To be fair, it only happened so often because they ordered just about every meal in. Neither of them were good cooks, and between their dads they had a nearly infinite cash flow. It just made sense. It also meant there were more opportunities for their orders to be wrong than the average person.

“Hey!” Annabeth yelled as she rounded onto the second floor landing and started toward the lobby. The delivery driver was about to walk out the front door, but he stopped and glanced back at her. “Hey, don’t leave!”

“Can I help you?” he asked, his brow furrowing, and he turned to face her.

Annabeth was ready to go into her usual spiel about their incorrect order, in between labored attempts at catching her breath – she’d become an expert at talking through being winded – when she got a proper look at the guy she’d stopped and came up short.

He was tall and lean, with a Mediterranean complexion and jet black hair. He was handsome, very handsome, in fact, with a splattering of freckles across his nose, but Annabeth had long learned to be wary of handsome faces. A handsome face was never worth stopping in her tracks; more likely it was a reason to run the other direction. It was his eyes that rendered her frozen, sea green eyes so deep and pigmented they might have been the ocean itself, captured and imprisoned in two tiny marbles used to make his irises.

“Is something wrong with your order?” he tried asking again, this time slower. His tone was polite enough, but there was a hint of hesitation in it. Annabeth thought he looked startled.

Annabeth shook off her own daze and found her voice again, though she was still so unsettled that her usual speech failed to come to mind and she had to improvise. “Yeah. Our pizza is wrong.” Very eloquent, top quality explanation, Annabeth thought to herself.

“What’d you order?” He pulled a crinkled, messy pile of receipts from his pocket and glanced down at the one on top. Annabeth wrinkled her nose at the sight, wondering if his bosses were okay with the complete disorganization, and how many of those receipts he would lose over the course of a shift.

“Large, half veggie combo, half extra olives,” she told him, crossing her arms across her chest.

“Nope,” he replied, pursing his lips. “Receipt says large cheese.”

“It must be the wrong receipt, then.”

“Apartment 305, right?”

Annabeth nodded.

“Large cheese, see for yourself,” he repeated, and held the receipt out for her to look at.

Indignant, her scowl deepening, she stepped forward and leaned in to read it. If she hadn’t already been thrown off, she wouldn’t have so eagerly stepped into someone else’s personal space. For a few seconds her attention was focused completely on the receipt, scanning the text as she looked first at the order detail and then confirmed the address was correct. It was only when she straightened that she realized how close she had come to him.

“See,” he said, completely calm, unbothered by how close she’d come.

“That–” Annabeth started, suddenly finding words extremely difficult. He smelled amazing, like simple soap and a breeze off the sea, not too over powering and all kinds of wonderful. She had to step back again just to be able to remember what she was trying to say. This never happened. Men, especially random ones, didn’t get to her. “That can’t be right. I ordered it myself.”

The guy shrugged. “I don’t take orders, I just deliver. You’re going to have to call back.”

“I’m already talking to you,” Annabeth responded firmly.

“And like I said, I don’t take orders,” he argued, a small smirk playing at his lips. “They just pay me to deliver.”

Annabeth was frustrated – that their pizza was wrong, that his eyes were so dazzling, that he was being completely unhelpful, that he smelled so wonderful, that she wanted to know his name. The list could go on forever. If she hadn’t been so frustrated, she might have seen the logic in what he was saying, but Annabeth was very, very frustrated. “Delivery is customer service. You should be doing everything you can to get me my food in a timely matter.”

“Listen,” he said, and though his tone was cordial enough, Annabeth could tell he didn’t give a flying fuck about her problem. If anything, he sounded like he was trying not to laugh. “I’ve got two more deliveries to make before I head back to the parlor. It’ll be faster for everyone if you call, including for yourself. That way, your pizza will be ready for me to deliver by the time I get back and I don’t have to leave those other two customers hanging any longer than I already have.”

“Is anyone else working deliveries tonight?” Annabeth asked, trying to match his tone. She didn’t feel amused at all, though, so she figured she just sounded like a brat.

“Yep.”

“Good,” Annabeth said as lightly as she could manage. “I’ll make sure to ask they send someone else.”

“You do that,” he replied, a chuckle in his voice, flashing her an annoyingly broad and genuine smile. His eyes twinkled, and they lingered on her longer than they probably should have. That smile was so entirely disarming, she froze up yet again. “Have a great night.” For some reason it sounded like he meant it, like it was more than just a courteous goodbye. That frustrated Annabeth most of all.

By the time she got back to the apartment, Annabeth was seething.

“Did he have our pizza?” Piper asked as Annabeth stormed into the living room to get her phone.

Jason, God bless him, caught on much quicker to the fact that Annabeth clearly did not have a pizza in hand and was very obviously furious. He was by far the best guy Piper had ever dated. Annabeth really hoped this relationship lasted more than a few months.

“I think we have to call,” he said carefully, trying to avoid the very obvious I told you so, implication. Both Piper and Annabeth would turn on him if he played that card, and he had enough sense not to risk it.

Piper let out an overly dramatic and frustrated groan. “Fuck it. I’m too hungry. I’ll eat the cheese and suffer.”

Annabeth hung up the phone before the first ring had even finished. “Whatever, I’m going to bed,” she said in defeat.

Had it just been the pizza, Annabeth probably wouldn’t have cared so much. Even if it had just been rude service, she would have shrugged it off and got along with her night. It hadn’t just been the pizza, though, and Annabeth was really the one who’d been rude – she was realizing that much already.

Those eyes lingered in her mind. Even though it should have been impossible, she could still smell him, and she realized it’s because he smelled just like the candle she’d bought the day before while out shopping with Piper. Of all the scents in the world, he had to smell like something she had actively chosen, _wanted_ to smell on a daily basis. And that smile he gave her just before walking out, the twinkle in his eye, was simply unfair. It didn’t make sense. She’d be stuck on that moment for ages, just trying to figure out what the fuck it was about.

Annabeth never let herself get hung up on guys. She had paid the price for it once, and now it was a luxury she simply could not afford. Tomorrow would be the start of her final semester of college, and then Annabeth would have her opportunity to make a mark on the world – literally, as she intended to design buildings and monuments that would stand the test of time. There was no space for distractions, even if Annabeth had wanted one. She didn’t.

The delivery guy was a stranger. They lived in New York City. As long as they never ordered from that place again, and she had already decided they would not be, she’d never see him again. In a few days she’d forget about him, with the only man of any importance in her life being Piper’s new boyfriend who was fun to talk to and hang out with while remaining at a safe distance.

The look of pity Jason gave her as he watched her walk past at least made Annabeth feel a little better. “Sleep tight,” he told her.

Piper, to her credit, took a detour on her way back to the living room from the kitchen to intercept Annabeth with a hug. “Love you, Chase,” she said gently, and gave Annabeth a little love pat on the ass before getting on her way.

“Love you too, McLean,” Annabeth replied, a little of her anger melting away. For a second she considered changing her mind, staying up to tell Piper the details of what had left her so upset, but she knew it would only lead to questions she wouldn’t be able to answer. There were some things she couldn’t say, even to Piper McLean. Instead Annabeth turned to the new couple one last time and added, “Try to keep it down tonight, you two! Some of us have early classes in the morning.”

Much to Annabeth’s delight, the last thing she saw before disappearing into her room was the look of complete mortification on Jason’s face. Yeah, she really hoped this one stuck around for a while.


	2. Chapter 2

Jason Grace was not Piper’s usual type. Piper liked guys who knew how to party, guys who would get wasted with her even on nights when they had class the next morning, guys who were looking to screw around and would probably be ready to move on to the next thing in a month or two. She liked guys she knew would leave, because then at least she wasn’t surprised when they did. Piper liked guys who were bad for her. Jason Grace was none of those things. She knew it from the moment she set eyes on him, before she even learned his name.

Piper had dragged Annabeth out for New Year’s Eve because most of their friends were out of town for Winter Break and the few who weren’t were unfortunately coupled off. The last thing Piper wanted to do was ring in the New Year surrounded by happy couples. Better to spend it getting drunk off her ass with her best friend and hopefully bringing home a guy who could make her forget how much being single on days like this sucked.

They’d taken up position in a booth on the second floor where Piper could survey the masses. Occasionally the girls would be approached first, but they hadn’t been there long that night and so far hadn’t attracted any attention. Not that Annabeth was looking. Annabeth was never looking. Piper had long given up on that front. She still wasn’t entirely sure Annabeth had ever looked, but she wasn’t going to think about that tonight. Despite her own complete lack of interest, Annabeth had always been a stellar wing woman.

Jason walked into Club Jupiter simultaneously looking like he owned the place and sticking out like a very sore thumb that definitely didn’t belong. His blonde hair was close cropped and tidy. He wore a light button up shirt, though Piper couldn’t tell the exact color in the flashing club lights, with his sleeves neatly rolled up and the top button undone in what she assumed, on sight, was about as casual a look as he ever sported. It hardly passed as casual, though, because that shirt was still carefully tucked into his slacks, and even his slacks were ironed. Nothing about this guy was casual.

For all the ways Piper could immediately tell Jason wasn’t her type, he was still insanely hot, and for that reason alone she couldn’t simply overlook him. She had every intention of getting laid. It didn’t matter if a one night stand was her type or not. She could make her way downstairs and muss this carefully groomed man right up. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d done something like that. Usually it felt pretty good.

She watched as he picked his way through the crowd, careful to avoid touching anyone, and made straight for the bar. His stiffness almost made her lose interest completely – something about that demeanor told her he wouldn’t be interested in the quickie she was looking for – when he tripped over something – a foot or a bar stool, she had no idea – and face planted right into the edge of the bar. It was so funny that Piper burst into laughter, which quickly turned into a squeal of agony as whiskey shot out her fucking nose.

“What the hell, Piper?” Annabeth asked, shouting over the music just to be heard. 

“Did you see that?” Piper replied through agonizingly painful coughs, pointing down to where the tall blonde she’d been eyeing was now talking with the bartender, shoving napkins in his face and tilting his head back to combat a nose bleed. Likewise, Piper was groping around for napkins to tend to her own nose, which was not bleeding as far as she could tell, but hurt more than anything she’d ever experienced in her twenty-two years of life.

Annabeth’s gaze followed Piper’s finger, but she shook her head. “Are you okay?”

To that, Piper shook her head. “I’m going to go to the bathroom. Be right back.” Annabeth rolled her eyes and slouched back in her seat, but Piper was unbothered by her best friend’s annoyance.

By the time Piper made it to the bathroom her eyes were watering and her nose running so badly it looked like she was having a full on sobbing meltdown, but even as she looked at what a mess she was in the mirror, she couldn’t stop laughing. She wished she had the moment on video so she could replay it a thousand times, sped up, in slow motion, frame by frame, those two seconds on repeat until she laughed herself to death. Part of her felt a little bad for laughing so shamelessly at someone else’s suffering, but at least he’d seemed okay as far as she could see.

It took Piper a few minutes to get herself cleaned up, mostly because the relentless burning in her nostrils meant all the places she was leaking from didn’t want to stop and her laughter resumed every time she thought about why this had happened to her in the first place. Her makeup held up well enough to the sudden onslaught of tears and snot, and to the process of blotting all the wetness away.

She wasn’t sure where the urge came from, but didn’t think about it twice. Instead of heading back up to the booth where Annabeth was waiting for her (poor Annabeth who _hated_ clubbing, but suffered through it often for Piper’s sake), she made her way across the dance floor to the bar. Thankfully, he was still sitting there talking to the bartender.

His nose had stopped bleeding, but his crisp shirt was now spotted with blood stains and he looked completely mortified. Much to Piper’s chagrin, he didn’t seem to notice her when she took a seat at a stool one away from where he sat. Guys always noticed Piper, sometimes even when she’d rather they didn’t, and tonight she’d worn the sheer black top and tight red skirt combination that never missed. His attention remained focused completely on the bartender, though, with whom he seemed to be talking comfortably, an air of familiarity between them.

For the first time Piper looked at the bartender closely. She was taller than Piper, looked to be a few years older, probably in her late twenties, with short, choppy black hair and more piercings than Piper could count without being rude and staring. She wore a purposefully distressed black tank top, a studded black belt and black skinny jeans that seemed to have more holes in them than actual fabric. The ease with which she spoke to the blonde man was one of the most bizarre things Piper had ever seen. She’d never seen two people more opposite be so in sync.

It crossed her mind that they might be a couple, but after a few more seconds of observing them she knew that wasn’t the case. Clearly they were comfortable with each other, but she’d spent enough time observing people to be able to tell from body language when two people were involved with each other.

“Sorry about that,” the bartender finally said, shaking Piper from her thoughts when she was addressed directly. “What can I get you?”

“I’ll have what he’s having,” Piper replied, nodding her head toward the craft beer in the blonde’s hand. Of course that was his drink, he really wasn’t Piper’s type at all. She enjoyed beer at home on the couch on Thursday nights and from a keg at house parties, but not at a club.

He looked up at her then, finally, and gave her a small nod of acknowledgment before returning to his drink without a word.

“Easy,” the barkeep replied. “Coming right up.”

While she stepped away to get the bottle, Piper leaned toward the blonde and asked, “Are you alright? That was quite a fall you took.”

That got his attention. He choked on his beer and then looked at her properly. “You saw that?”

“I did,” Piper told him, barely able to contain the urge to burst out laughing again. He was cute, so cute it was almost obnoxious how extremely it contrasted with the absolute sexiness he otherwise naturally exuded.

He sighed heavily, his shoulders going slouch. “I hate this place,” he said, and Piper wasn’t sure if he’d intended her to hear it or not, but she had a gift for picking up conversation over the booming bass of the club speakers. Annabeth always complained that the only place Piper could hear someone was at a club, otherwise she was prone to needing things repeated for her.

“Then why are you here?” she found herself asking, a smile continuing to pull at her lips. This adorable and sexy klutz of a man was too fascinating to look away from.

With his beer he signaled to the bartender, who had just arrived to present Piper with her beer. “She forgot her phone. Again.”

Piper panicked a little at that revelation, wondering if she’d misread the situation. If he was bringing her a forgotten phone, that meant they probably lived together. Sure, they could be roommates, but rarely did roommates of the opposite sex have such familiarity if they weren’t also romantically involved. There was always the possibility they were co-workers, but that seemed even crazier than the idea they were a couple.

“I didn’t ask you to bring it to me,” the bartender replied, rolling her eyes. “This was your own doing.”

He seemed not to have an answer to that, his bottom lip turning down in the hint of a pout as he took a swig of his beer.

The bartender looked pleased with herself, looking then to Piper. “Don’t be fooled by the stuffy, put together exterior. This guy is a massive dweeb who once tried to eat a stapler.”

“I was two!” he objected, and the desperation in his voice told Piper this story was probably told at least once a week at his expense.

“Staple cut straight through his upper lip and had to get stitches,” the bartender continued, pointing to the same spot on her own mouth. “He’s still got a scar. Girls think it makes him look mysterious and dangerous, but it was from a stapler.”

“Are the two of you siblings?” Piper asked, an unwitting smile spreading across her face as she finally put the confusing pieces together.

The bartender nodded, but it was he who responded, “Unfortunately.”

“I’m Thalia,” the barkeep finally introduced herself, then nodded toward her brother, “and this is Jason.”

“Piper,” Piper replied. “It’s an absolute pleasure to meet you both.”

Before Jason could say anything, his sister once again jumped in. “Well, Piper, this guy’s an idiot and he’s not going to ask for your number, even though you’re clearly interested and about ten miles out of his league. You’re going to have to make the first move.”

“Thalia!” Jason scolded, a flashing her a look of complete distress.

Thalia shrugged. “I have customers. Have fun, you two!”

Piper wasn’t sure what she’d expected from this encounter, but the reality was far beyond anything her imagination could have cooked up. She was so unexpectedly charmed by this adorable, broad shouldered, blonde haired man that she felt butterflies starting to stir in the pit of her stomach. Goddamned butterflies. Piper McClean did not get butterflies, had never gotten butterflies.

“Are you really not going to ask?” Piper asked, after a few seconds of silence had passed between them in Thalia’s wake.

Jason turned on his stool to study Piper, a surprising intensity in his eyes as they took her in, making heat rise in her cheeks. Even in the inconsistent lighting, she could see the scar Thalia had mentioned. Without the context of where it had come from, Piper might very well have found such a scar mysterious, dangerous, sexy. It was still a little sexy, just in a much different way, a much more dangerous way.

There was a little hesitation in him, like he wasn’t sure it was a good idea. Piper thought it was likely she wasn’t really his type, either, and she couldn’t blame him if he decided against making a move.

“You really saw me smash my face on this bar and still came down here to talk to me?” he finally asked, the corners of his lips quirking upward.

“Well,” Piper admitted, “first I snorted whiskey out my nose laughing and then I spent about ten minutes in the bathroom trying to get the burning to stop, but yes.”

That earned her a full, proper smile, and Piper felt like her heart was going to explode right there in the middle of the club. The desire to drag him home and fuck him senseless was still there, probably stronger than it had been before she came down to the bar, but she didn’t want to stop there. One smile and she was ready to throw it all away: to spend lazy Sunday mornings curled up in bed with him, go out to brunch with him and his complete opposite of a sister, stuff her closet full of those neatly pressed shirts, and sit around doing absolutely nothing but enjoying each others company for hours and hours on end. Holy hell, she was in danger.

Jason pulled his phone from his pocket, typed in his password without looking away from Piper, and handed her his phone to input her number. “Let’s get dinner.”


	3. Chapter 3

Annabeth had purposely left her required Physical Education credits for the last semester of her senior year. She’d anticipated the heavy course load she’d be facing and knew she’d want something easy in her schedule for the final stretch. Unfortunately, most other seniors also had the same idea, so the classes filled up quick and by the time she’d gotten her turn at registration, the only thing she was even remotely interested in was an intermediate swimming class that met at eight in the morning Monday and Friday. That was fine. She’d never minded early mornings, was a decent swimmer, and it would be all physical activity with no homework added to her already full plate.

When Piper had found out about her class, she’d insisted on taking Annabeth to buy a whole new collection of swimsuits. It wasn’t like she could wear a bikini to school, and that was all Annabeth had, so she hadn’t objected to the shopping trip. Together they’d found some cute, but modest and supportive, retro inspired one piece suits in a variety of patterns that made Annabeth a little secretly excited to start the class. She’d never admit it to Piper, who would gloat about it for at least about a year, but Annabeth had developed an appreciation for wearing cute clothes as a kind of armor.

With her curly blonde hair pulled back into a pony tail, she felt comfortable and confident as she exited the locker room out to the pool. She was early, so she took a seat on the bleachers beside the pool and watched as the rest of the class slowly filed in. She wasn’t expecting to see anyone she knew. None of her friends had signed up for the class, and the other seniors in the Architecture Department had opted for less physically demanding courses, if they were taking them this semester at all. So when a very large and vaguely familiar guy padded over and sat down a couple feet away from Annabeth, she found herself staring.

He looked awkward, to say the least. The young man appeared absolutely ripped, and yet he sat hunched over and wore baggy shorts and a rash guard that covered most of his body. He had short black hair and a round, baby face that contrasted starkly against his bulk. As he shuffled through his dufflebag it was clear he was trying not to make eye contact with anyone, to blend into the background as much as was possible for someone so giant. His appearance tickled something in the back of her mind, Annabeth sure she knew him from somewhere.

“Excuse me,” she finally said, after spending a few shameful minutes stealing glances at the poor guy trying to figure out why he looked so familiar, her mind buzzing with excitement as the connection clicked. “Are you friends with Jason Grace?”

When Piper had first met Jason and they had planned their first date, she and Annabeth had curled up on the couch together to do a little social media stalking. Jason’s social media presence was surprisingly small, but there were still plenty of pictures to sort through. A few faces appeared more often in Jason’s pictures than others, and Annabeth was pretty sure this guy was one of them.

The big guy practically jumped out of his seat when Annabeth spoke, turning to look at her with wide eyes, like a deer in headlights. Annabeth wasn’t sure if the fear was in response to being spoken to at all, or because she’d mentioned Jason. “Uh… Not exactly, but… How’d you know?”

“I’m Annabeth Chase,” she told him, beaming with pride at the power of her own mind – and internet stalking. She reached out to offer her hand to him. “Piper – his girlfriend – is my roommate. I remember seeing you in some of his pictures.”

“Oh!” he replied, the scared look melting into relief as he reached out to shake her offered hand. “Frank Zhang. Small world.”

“I guess it is,” Annabeth agreed with a laugh. One thing was already stuck in her mind, though, and she knew if she didn’t just bite the bullet and ask, she’d be kicking herself for it until she either saw Frank again or had a chance to ask Jason. “What did you mean by not exactly, though?”

Frank winced at the question, turning sheepish. She could almost hear him chiding himself for his own words and felt a little bad for asking the question. Waiting to ask Jason would have probably been a better idea. Still, Frank answered, “Jason’s not a friend. He’s my uncle.”

Before she could check herself, Annabeth barked a laugh. Her hand clapped over her mouth. “I’m sorry, that’s not… I shouldn’t laugh. It’s just…”

“I know,” Frank assured her, and she was glad to see he wasn’t upset. If anything, he looked amused by it himself, a little more relaxed. “We’ve got a messed up family.”

“Join the club,” Annabeth replied, a teasing lilt in her voice. In her experience, messed up families were a dime a dozen, her own included. The not messed up families were the rare ones. “You’ll have to tell me all of Jason’s deep, dark secrets, since we met so serendipitously.”

“Do you know about his scar yet?” Frank asked. The guy still looked nervous, but the familiar topic seemed to be opening him up a little, and she got the impression he was relieved to have someone in class to talk to. She related in that sense. It was always better to know someone in a new class.

Annabeth scoffed. “That’s beginner stuff. Thalia told Piper about it the night she met them.”

That made Frank laugh, a boisterous and warm sound that was entirely too contagious. “Thalia would. She loves to torture him with that story.” 

“Can’t say I blame her. Torturing Jason is extremely satisfying.”

That earned her another one of his heartwarming laughs. With a little elbow grease and patience, Annabeth had a feeling she might get Frank to really loosen up. Considering he was Jason’s family, she hoped she’d have plenty of time to get to know him.

By the time the clock struck eight only a small group had assembled, about 10 other students. That was a pleasant surprise. Annabeth liked small classes, and having already met Frank had her excited about what the semester might hold.

All that hopefulness dissolved as soon as the coach walked out, his TA following close behind.

Annabeth couldn’t believe her eyes, didn’t want to believe them. The world was small, just as Frank had said, but not _that_ small, and not in New York. Panic began to bubble in her chest. For a moment she wondered if she could slink out the back, disappear and head straight to the registration office where she would drop the class and find herself something else to replace it. There had to be another PE class with openings still. Literally any other class would do.

Then his eyes met hers, deep and dangerously green eyes that had kept her awake much later than she’d ever admit the night before, and she could no longer run. If she ran now that he’d seen her he’d know exactly why she was running. He’d know she was running from him. He would win. Win what exactly, Annabeth had no idea, but it didn’t matter. Her pride wasn’t going to let him win anything.

“My name is Gleeson Hedge,” the coach said, and Annabeth decided she’d focus all her attention on him, pretend the young man standing next to him didn’t exist at all. Much easier said than done, but Annabeth was nothing if not bullheadedly stubborn. The stumpy, hairy man in sweat pants and poorly matched polo shirt was certainly interesting enough to look at. Despite being over a foot shorter than his TA, Gleeson Hedge commanded attention.

“I don’t care if you remember that though,” he added not a second later, “because this is the last time you’re going to see me this semester. I’ve got more important things to do than babysit a bunch of rugrats looking for easy credit, like babysit my own kid. Jackson here is the boss from now on. Do what he says if you know what’s good for ya.”

Annabeth dropped her head into her hands in defeat. Maybe there was no winning this one. Maybe she really should slink away and quietly transfer to another class before this could get any worse. She could make some excuse for Frank, even make it up to him by offering to take him to lunch, get to know him that way. By the look of him, he could eat, so she figured a meal would be a sufficient apology for running out on their class five minutes after meeting him.

Steeling her nerves, she forced herself to look back up as Coach Hedge disappeared back into his office and took all her remaining hope with him.

“Thanks coach,” Jackson called after the short, gruff man, heaving an impressive sigh and crossing his arms over his chest. 

The movement naturally drew her attention, but her eyes lingered there for entirely too long. He hadn’t bothered wearing a shirt, which made sense. It was a swimming class. Frank was the only guy there who’d bothered wearing anything on top. The problem was none of the other guys in class were built like _him_ , lean, with strong, broad shoulders and (Annabeth counted, cursing herself for it even as she counted again just to be sure) an eight pack. At least some of her embarrassment faded a little when her gaze finally darted away and she noticed she wasn’t the only girl in class who was ogling their new teacher.

In fact, only one girl seemed not to be paying attention to his formidable physical stature. A small girl in the front row, with a massive pile of golden brown ringlets amassed atop her head looked at Jackson with what Annabeth could only classify as amused, sisterly affection. Annabeth had never been as good as Piper at recognizing such expressions, but the pure and innocent admiration was too plain to miss. She obviously knew him, and she seemed to be enjoying watching him struggle with what to say to the class.

“First off, you can call me Percy.” he finally spoke again, and Annabeth naturally looked back at him. Unfortunately, he was looking directly at her too. The grin he wore was hard for her to interpret, but she definitely did not like it. “Mr. Jackson was my grandpa, so if you call me that even once, you’re going to be swimming laps the whole period.”

“BOOOOO!” one of her classmates called from the bleachers. The culprit was seated next to the small girl, a lanky imp of a boy who looked more like a high schooler than a college student. The girl smacked him in the arm with the back of her hand glared at him.

“Shut it, Valdez,” Percy replied, though there wasn’t even a hint of annoyance in his voice.

“That’s Leo to you! Mr. Valdez was my abuelo,” the boy, Leo, replied without fear. Clearly they knew each other, too.

“Leo!” the girl hissed, horrified by how shameless he was being. Her eyes darted around the small group nervously and then she smacked him one more time for good measure.

“Since Leo has so kindly gotten us started, why don’t we go around and introduce ourselves?” Percy suggested. “You already know my name, Percy Jackson. I’m a senior, Psychology major. Leo, do you study anything or do you just hang around to harass people?”

“Both! Engineering,” Leo grinned back at Percy. “Also a senior, and professional pain in Percy Jackson’s ass.”

“You said it, not me,” Percy said with a shrug, then he looked to the girl beside Leo, who appeared to wish she could melt into the bleachers and disappear from embarrassment.

She cleared her throat and took a deep breath, “Hazel Levesque. Sophomore. Art History.”

“And professional Leo Valdez wrangler,” Percy added with amusement and an affection that perfectly matched the way Hazel had earlier been looking at him. His words only appeared to intensify Hazel’s desire to sink into an abyss.

Annabeth found herself curious about the connection between the three of them. Percy and Leo were both seniors, which meant they’d probably met at some point in a dorm or some other general education course. Hazel was a sophomore, though, and didn’t share a major with either of them. It was entirely possible Hazel was just dating one of them, Leo if Annabeth had to bet, but her instincts told her there was more to the story. Why she was so interested, she refused to think about.

Hearing Frank speak beside her brought her back to reality, a warning that it was almost her turn. “Frank Zhang,” he told the class, acting as small as possible. “Junior. Economics and Political Science.”

Double major. Annabeth was surprised and impressed, instantly beginning to reassess her initial impression of the shy and anxious Frank Zhang with a messed up family. He flashed her a smile and the friendliness was enough to give Annabeth the confidence to introduce herself.

“Annabeth Chase. Senior. Architecture,” she said with head held high, then glanced over at Percy. Those green eyes seemed to be trying to burn a hole right through her. That gaze made it difficult to listen as the rest of the class introduced themselves. It always seemed to return to her before long, and even if she was looking elsewhere, she could still feel it on her.

When all their introductions were done, Percy clapped his hands. “Alright. This is an intermediate level course, so I’m expecting most of you to know your basic strokes, but I want to see what you’ve got. I’m going to have you take turns. Swim one pool length with one stroke, then I’ll shout the next one to you until we’ve gone through them. Should be a pretty easy day. We’ll get into the real workouts on Friday.” 

That searing gaze returned to Annabeth with a newfound intensity. “Chase, why don’t you get us started?”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i removed the slow(ish) burn tag bc.... idk how to slow burn. 8)
> 
> thank you all for your support so far!!

Piper was giddy when Annabeth told them about her morning swim class. “He wants to fuck you.”

If anyone else had been on the receiving end of that stormy, gray eyed glare they would have crumbled under its weight. To Piper McLean, though, it was about as intimidating as a newborn puppy. Not once in the over ten years they’d known each other had Piper ever been afraid of Annabeth. Sure, they’d fought. They’d gotten more angry with each other than Piper had ever imagined two people could be. Once they’d even gone a whole month without speaking a word to each other, even though they’d slept not five feet apart. Annabeth had never intentionally hurt Piper, though.

“I’m right!” Piper finally exclaimed, when she realized Annabeth was going to do nothing but stare her down, and turned to Jason. “Tell her I’m right!”

Jason was sitting on the couch in her living room. Piper was laying with her head in his lap. Annabeth was seated in the accent chair across from them, knees pulled up against her chest. They’d been discussing their respective starts of term. Of course Annabeth had gone last, when her story was by far the most interesting. Piper had spent close to an hour rambling about how annoyed she was over the attendance policy in one of her classes and the whole time Annabeth had been sitting on _this_.

“There is literally nothing I can say right now that doesn’t end in me being murdered,” Jason replied.

“Coward,” Piper teased, wrinkling her nose at him.

He shrugged, not at all bothered by the accusation. Piper supposed Thalia had called him much worse over the years.

“What’s more interesting to me,” Jason said, betraying Piper in order to suck up to Annabeth by changing the subject, “is that you ran into Frank. I’m genuinely shocked he’s taking a swimming class.”

“Why?” Annabeth asked, a very familiar expression of curiosity lighting up her face. 

Annabeth loved to learn what made people tick almost as much as she loved architecture. Her curiosity was different than the malicious gossiping in which others often partook. When Annabeth sought out knowledge about other people it was always for a sincere reason. Piper guessed that in Frank’s case she wanted to know whether there was something he might need her help with – a fear he would have to face, something embarrassing that might be exposed. That was another reason Piper was never afraid of that otherwise blood curdling glare. Annabeth only ever wanted to help people.

Jason hesitated to answer. Frank was family and he’d really only known Piper and Annabeth for a couple weeks. Apparently whatever he’d learned about the two of them in that time meant he’d come to trust them, because it didn’t take him long to decide to share.

“Frank was teased a lot when we were kids,” Jason explained, getting a faraway look in his clear blue eyes. “He’s always been a big guy. He was even a big baby – you should see the pictures of us, he was always close to twice my size growing up. At about sixteen he went through an especially big growth spurt and then started working out. His baby fat turned into muscle, but the teasing didn’t stop. He doesn’t even let the rest of our family see him without a shirt on now. It’s harder to hide from me, because we usually work out together, but even then he’s constantly self conscious and insecure.”

“That explains his rash guard, then,” Annabeth replied, her brow knitting together. Piper could practically hear the gears beginning to turn in Annabeth’s head. “But why would he take a swim class if he’s that self conscious? There are plenty of other courses he could take where no one would bat an eye at him keeping his clothes on.”

Jason sighed, clearly wondering about the same thing. Piper could see worry in Jason’s face and his hand playing idly with her hair stilled. “I have no idea. It really doesn’t sound like him, to put himself in that kind of situation. He’s also never been particularly interested in swimming. We took lessons as kids, but we’ve always stuck to running and weight lifting.”

“He didn’t tell you he was taking it?” Piper asked.

“No,” Jason replied with a shake of his head. “We have the same majors, so we only talked about our major specific courses when registration started – advice on what’s best to get out of the way now, who the best professors are, things like that.”

“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Annabeth told Jason, her tone confident and reassuring. “He’s a pretty charming guy. It didn’t take long for me to realize that much.”

“Yeah, I’m fond of him,” Jason agreed. There was no exchange of thanks, but Jason looked grateful and Annabeth looked like she was glad to watch out for Frank.

Piper felt a little pang of completely irrational jealousy. She knew Annabeth meeting Frank had been a total coincidence, but she still found herself feeling it was unfair she hadn’t been able to meet someone so important to Jason first. “I want to meet him,” she said, trying not to sound too whiny, but not feeling confident she’d accomplished the goal. That was fine, Jason had learned pretty early on that Piper could be whiny. “The only person in your life I’ve met is Thalia.”

“The only person in your life I’ve met is Annabeth,” Jason countered, brushing a few stray hairs out of her face.

This might have been infallible logic for anyone else, but not for Piper McLean. “Annabeth is the only person in my life,” she replied, which was only mostly true. Piper’s singular other family member was her dad and she spoke to him maybe once a month and then for five minutes total if she was lucky. Tristan McLean had never even met one of Piper’s boyfriends.

“You have other friends, Piper,” Annabeth chided. It was true enough, Piper did have plenty of friends at school, but her relationships with them were barely drops in a bucket compared to Annabeth.

Luckily, a solution to the problem popped into her mind like a little gift from Fate itself and Piper snapped her fingers. “We should throw a party! You invite your friends. I invite my friends. Annabeth invites Percy Jackson.”

“Do you want to die tonight, Piper McLean?” Annabeth nearly shouted.

“If you bring him here, I can make a proper assessment and figure out for sure whether or not he’s absolutely desperate to tap that cute little ass of yours,” Piper told her, speaking as if it were the most logical solution in the world. 

Piper was stepping into dangerous territory. For as long as Piper had known Annabeth she’d been trying, off and on, to fix her best friend up with guys (and, during a period of curious suspicion at Annabeth’s complete disinterest in boys, girls). For a long time Annabeth would just roll her eyes and refuse Piper’s help, insisting she could take care of herself if and when she was interested in someone.

The summer before their senior year of high school, though, things changed. Annabeth had appeared on Piper’s doorstep in Malibu in mid-August, a few weeks before they were supposed to head back east for school, dejected and broken. She’d refused to give Piper any details, but Piper had always suspected a boy had been the culprit. From then on, Annabeth was more forceful in her insistence against being set up, whether Piper mentioned something as a joke or in earnest. While once Annabeth had at least been willing to participate in stupid games like spin the bottle, she refused even that much, closed herself off, and never opened back up.

It would be a lie to say it didn’t bother Piper that Annabeth had never explained herself, but even nearly five years later she held out hope the time would come. Eventually she’d learn what happened that summer to change her best friend forever. And, more importantly, eventually someone would come along who could break through the walls Annabeth had so carefully erected.

Instinct was all Piper had and for once instinct was telling her to _push_. Never in eleven years had Annabeth mentioned the same guy twice. Something, though Piper wasn’t sure yet what, was different here. Maybe Percy Jackson wouldn’t be the one to topple the fortress Annabeth Chase had built around herself, but maybe, just maybe, he would be. Piper would be a terrible best friend if she didn’t do everything she could to help that process along.

“He’s just giving me a bad time because I hassled him about the pizza,” Annabeth insisted, though Piper could see even Annabeth was harboring doubts about her own words. “He’ll get over it soon.”

Piper wasn’t sure about that, but she didn’t have a chance to object because Jason suddenly said, “I figured out who he is!” Both girls looked at him expectantly, but it took him an infuriatingly long time to realize he was supposed to explain.

“A friend of mine has mentioned him a couple times,” Jason told them. “I think Percy’s mom worked for his family for a while when they were kids. Percy would come over and use the family pool. He’s on the swim team, and last year he set some kind of record, so he was in the news. We talked about him then.”

“That’s why he’s teaching Annabeth’s class,” Piper concluded. They’d figured he was on the team if he’d been relegated such a responsibility, but Piper knew Annabeth would feel better having the information confirmed rather than merely suspected.

“What did your friend say about him?” Annabeth asked. She tried to hide it, but Piper could see a burning curiosity behind Annabeth’s eyes. It was deeper than the curiosity she expressed about Frank. Something was definitely different.

Jason hesitated again, deciding again whether or not to share this with two people he’d known for such a short time. Unlike earlier, Piper got the impression Jason decided against disclosing sensitive information. It was a little frustrating not to have her curiosity fully sated, but she didn’t blame Jason for holding back. “Not much,” he said, “and definitely nothing bad.”

“I don’t see why it matters, though,” Annabeth interjected, sitting back in her cushy chair and pulling her knees closer against her torso. Piper saw the disappointment in Annabeth’s eyes, though. She’d wanted more information, too. “Like I said, he’ll get over me hassling him about the pizza and move on, probably by next week. I’m sure he’s got much more important things to worry about.”

“I guess.” But Piper really hoped not, and she had a sinking suspicion Annabeth was trying to convince herself as much as Piper. “The party is a valid idea, though. We didn’t host one last semester and I want a chance to meet more of Jason’s friends. Plus, if we happen to drop a few hints to a few select people that they could potentially pass an invite to Percy Jackson, and he decides to show up, it’s a win-win.”

A wave of exhaustion washed over Annabeth, and she dropped her forehead against her knees. Piper tried to ignore the hint of guilt that tugged at her stomach for being so pushy. This was the right thing, she knew it in her bones. 

“Do what you want, Piper. I’ve never been able to stop you before,” Annabeth said, her voice muffled. They both knew that was a lie. Annabeth was one of the only people in the world who could stop Piper. Annabeth wanted this, somewhere deep down, or she would shut Piper down properly, the way she had a thousand and one times before.

It wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement of her plan, but Piper decided to take what she could get and run with it. “Then it’s settled. I’ll start planning and making calls. Make sure you leave your Friday night clear.”

Jason studied Piper while he twirled his nimble fingers through her choppy brown hair. He had no idea about Annabeth’s history, but Piper thought he could tell something was happening between the girls that went beyond simple teasing. Jason had good instincts too, usually. His eyes narrowed just a hint, the scarred corner of his mouth twitching upward, as if he was telling Piper he was, despite his earlier refusal to take a side, in on whatever it was she was planning. They were a team now.

“I’ll make sure everyone knows when to be here,” he replied. “Sounds like it’ll be fun.”


	5. Chapter 5

“So, party at your place tonight?” Frank asked as soon as Annabeth sat down on the bleachers for their Friday swim class. There was an endearing blend of excitement and anxiety in his voice that had Annabeth breaking into a grin instantly.

“Yes, sir,” she confirmed. “It’s technically Piper’s party, but I’ll be there. She’s told me that if I don’t at least show my face, I will no longer have a face.”

Frank nodded absently, but didn’t really seem to process anything beyond her confirmation. “It’s really okay that Jason invited me?” he asked, glancing at her tentatively.

Jason had told Annabeth Frank had issues with confidence, but she still found herself surprised by the extent of his doubt. Annabeth had the most outrageous urge to reach out and hug the big guy. “Of course it’s okay. You’re the whole reason we’re having it. Piper nearly threw a fit when she found out I’d gotten to meet someone so close to Jason before she did.”

Her words had the desired effect, they surprised Frank. The slight exaggeration (Piper hadn’t nearly thrown a fit, but she had been a little whiny) was well worth it. “Oh,” he said, the hint of a smile beginning to pull at his lips. “Cool. I’ll see you there.”

“You better,” she said firmly, and while it wasn’t as good as giving him the hug she wanted to, she reached over and gave him a little shove that ended with her swaying and Frank staying completely still. Jason hadn’t been kidding about his bulk. With just a little nudge Annabeth could tell the guy was practically made of steel. She didn’t think she’d ever met anyone who worked that hard on their body who didn’t show it off at every opportunity.

They didn’t have time to say anything else, because as soon as the clock struck eight Percy Jackson emerged from the coach’s office and called for class to assemble. Case in point, she thought. Percy was wearing the same tight swim trunks he’d sported on Monday, showing off every muscled inch of him. 

She definitely was not looking. She was definitely paying attention to what he was saying rather than thinking about thick and toned his thighs were. She definitely wasn’t tilting her head, wishing he’d turn so she could get a look at his backside. She was definitely acting completely normal.

“Annabeth?” Frank asked, making her jump. After blinking at him a few times, she realized the whole class was looking at her.

“Sorry, I…” Annabeth started, shaking her thoughts away and sitting up a little straighter. For a couple terrifying seconds she had no idea what to say to explain herself, but the lamest explanation in the world came to her just in the nick of time. “I was up late studying last night.”

Annabeth had not been up late studying the night before.

“Maybe you shouldn’t be in the pool if you’re that distracted, Chase,” Percy offered, a hint of amusement on his face, and she had the nauseating thought that he’d seen her looking, the way she was looking. Annabeth hated the way he called her _Chase_. Everyone else in the class was Hazel or Leo or Frank, friendly and casual, but Annabeth was _Chase_. In a subtle way, one anyone else would call her crazy for so much as thinking about, he was singling her out. She knew it was on purpose.

“I’m fine,” she insisted, sitting a little straighter and summoning all her willpower to keep her mind focused on class. Hopefully it would be easier once she was distracted by physical activity.

Percy gave her a skeptical once over, then nodded. “I was saying, your backstroke was strongest yesterday. I thought you should do a few example laps so I can point out what you were doing well, and what you weren’t, for everyone else.”

Not only had she missed that much of instruction, but he’d singled her out openly. Sure, saying her backstroke was strongest was a compliment, and in any other situation she would have been immensely proud. In this case she was not. In this case she was irritated, mostly at herself.

“Sure,” she responded, getting to her feet. The whole class watching her was nerve wracking, but she was able to forget about it after dropping into one of the pool lanes. At Percy’s instruction she did a few laps, not hearing anything he said while she swam. That was all well and good, and the movement did help to clear her head.

Fortunately, Percy didn’t call her out again over the course of the rest of their lesson once she’d finished her example laps. Unfortunately, she was still the constant victim of that burning gaze of his, more intensely after her idiotic stunt not paying attention (paying _too much_ attention, but she refused to admit that). Piper was absolutely crazy if she thought this was any kind of attraction. Actually, Piper was absolutely crazy regardless, but especially because of her insistence on this.

The thing was, Annabeth knew what attraction, what lust, looked like. She remembered all too well what _those_ gazes looked like, the places eyes would linger, especially in something as revealing as a swimsuit, the way those eyes could look at her without actually seeing her. Annabeth had spent a significant amount of time trying to forget that little piece of information and failed. Percy wasn’t looking at her with lust. He studied her the way Annabeth might have studied a particularly challenging crossword puzzle. He saw her, almost a little too well.

Annabeth was confirming a few details about the party with Frank, wrapped up in her towel and about to escape without further incident at the end of the hour, when Percy walked up and brazenly interrupted her mid sentence with, “Can we talk?”

“It’s fine, I can double check with Jason later if I think of anything,” Frank told her, glancing furtively between Annabeth and Percy. Actually, it wasn’t fine, interrupting someone having a conversation was insanely rude, but she opted not to take her frustration out on Frank just because he was trying to be polite. “I’ll see you tonight, Annabeth,” he added, and the excitement in both his face and voice was almost enough to ease her anger. Almost.

Pulling her towel tighter around her shoulders and waiting until Frank had walked out of ear shot, she turned to Percy and asked point blank, “What?” Probably it was a bad idea to be aggressively rude to someone who controlled her grade (even if it was just pass or fail based on attendance, and even if he’d been rude first), but she had a whole class worth of pent up annoynace to get out.

His eyebrows shot up, but he got straight to the point. “How do you know Nico di Angelo?”

The question caught Annabeth off guard, so she didn’t even bother thinking of a snarky retort. “I don’t.”

Once again, Percy crossed his arms across his chest. Annabeth’s traitorous eyes instinctively flickered toward the movement, and again they got stuck there for longer than she would have liked. He hadn’t even bothered to towel off, water clinging to his tanned skin as if it belonged on him – beaded on his chest, dripping from the tips of his messy black hair, down the length of his neck to broad shoulders – rather than in the pool. 

_He wants to fuck you_ , Piper’s voice echoed in her mind, even though Annabeth had convinced herself that wasn’t what he was thinking about. Great, her mind was turning traitor too.

“Then why’d he call Hazel and invite her to a party at your apartment tonight?” he demanded, snapping Annabeth out of her thoughts.

Piper. Piper was why. Annabeth didn’t know how, but she did know Piper McLean was behind whatever was happening here.

“I’ve never heard of Nico di Angelo,” Annabeth told him, doing her best to skirt around the truth. Her best friend might have been a meddling little butt head, but Annabeth wasn’t about to snitch on her. “I don’t know what his connection to Hazel is. I’m not even the one throwing the party, my roommate and her new boyfriend are.”

Percy studied her with those piercing eyes of his. Annabeth found it increasingly hard to meet his gaze, which was absolutely infuriating. There was no reason she should be intimidated by him.

“She wants to go,” Percy finally said, some of his intensity fading, quickly being replaced by concern. “I doubt she’ll know many people there, if anyone, but she’s excited about it. She doesn’t get invited to many parties.”

“I’ll introduce her to the people I know,” Annabeth assured him. The worry continuing to etch itself into his expression made it difficult for her to stay upset with him. She didn’t know what his relationship with Hazel was, but it was clear he felt protective of her. Annabeth knew a thing or two about feeling protective of her friends. “I’ll make sure she has a good time. Frank will be there, too. We can have a little mini swim class party within the party,” she added, and she hoped her sincerity was clear. Annabeth would look out for Hazel.

“Don’t let her drink,” Percy said firmly. “She’s not 21 yet.”

Annabeth wrinkled her nose in distaste. “I’m not her mother. I’ll watch out for her if does, and if she gets drunk, but I’m not going to follow her around like a babysitter and sniff all her drinks.”

Percy clenched his jaw, and Annabeth could tell his was trying to restrain himself because she had already agreed to do him a favor. Not that she was agreeing to watch out for Hazel for him. Annabeth would have watched out for any one at risk of being an outsider. While she hadn’t really spoken to Hazel yet, Annabeth thought her smile and positive attitude in class was endearing. She seemed like a good person and while Annabeth wasn’t as actively social as someone like Piper, she certainly enjoyed getting to know good people.

“If you’re that worried about her, you can just come to the party yourself,” Annabeth finally said, when Percy continued to stand there looking increasingly frustrated, his brow furrowed and a thin line forming between them.

Damn that conniving witch Piper McLean. Annabeth had fallen straight into her trap.

“I thought it wasn’t your party,” Percy replied easily, his mouth twitching with the threat of a smile. 

Annabeth felt her face flush. He was laughing at her, at least internally. She was going to strangle Piper when she got home. No more Piper, no more party. No more party, all Annabeth’s problems disappeared.

“It isn’t my party, but it is at my apartment. I have every right to invite anyone I want,” she told him, while thinking, _And Piper wants you there more than just about anyone she actually invited._

His smile made good on its threat, growing into a full, amused, lopsided grin. Annabeth added her stomach to the list of traitorous body parts, because it did a few unwitting tumbles in response. “It doesn’t matter, because I can’t go. I have work tonight,” he told her.

“Oh,” Annabeth replied, wondering if everything Frank Zhang did was as contagious as his laugh and she was now doomed to that single syllable response whenever it was least convenient. She was also irritated by the disappointment she felt. It was a good thing he wasn’t coming to the party, she shouldn’t be sad to hear he was busy.

“Have fun,” he said, a little begrudgingly, and Annabeth found herself wondering if he was a little disappointed he couldn’t go, too. “I’ll see you Monday morning.”

“Thanks. I’ll see you Monday,” she replied, giving him the most genuine smile she could muster. It wasn’t much. She collected her dufflebag, draped it over her shoulder and headed toward the locker room to get cleaned up and changed.

She only made it a few steps before Percy called out, “Hey, Chase!”

Surprised, Annabeth turned around. “Yeah?”

“You never called about your pizza, you know,” he said, and there was more amusement in his voice and expression than accusation.

Annabeth took a calming breath to steady herself and told him, “Piper decided she was too hungry to wait for a replacement. She can be fickle, especially when she’s hungry.”

Percy seemed to consider that answer for a few seconds. “And you?” he finally asked.

The question made her slightly uncomfortable, in part because she wasn’t sure what he meant, and in part because she didn’t know why he was asking. Not knowing what he meant made the question that much harder to answer. “I make sure my best friend gets what she wants, because it’s what she deserves, and no one else in her life has ever cared enough to,” she decided to tell him. Annabeth rarely cared about what she herself wanted and, no, she’d never been fickle. There were a few times she wished she had been.

“Half veggie combo, half extra olives, right?”

That surprised her almost as much as the confusing question. It hadn’t even been the order written on her receipt, yet he’d remembered the detail from their short conversation in her apartment lobby. All she could do was nod.

His lopsided grin was slowly returning, but this time Annabeth didn’t feel like she was being laughed at. This time her heart joined her traitor stomach in giving a little flutter. At this rate her entire body was at risk of mutiny.

“Which half is yours?” he asked.

Annabeth was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. Percy Jackson was hard for her to read, his smiles and eyes disarmed her in ways she didn’t fully understand. That morning she thought he hated her, now he was inexplicably curious about her, seeming to _enjoy_ this conversation they were having. She didn’t like when people became curious about her. Interest, especially from men she didn’t understand, never ended well.

“Which do you think?” she challenged him, tired of being the only one answering questions. It wasn’t exactly impressive, but she felt a tiny bit safer knowing she wasn’t just handing him the information, even if he had a fifty-fifty shot at getting it right.

Percy didn’t even hesitate. His head cocked to one side and he said confidently, “The extra olives.”

“Why?” she asked immediately, doing her best to keep her expression even and not let him know he’d hit the nail on the head.

“Because it’s really fucking weird,” he answered easily, confident, teasing, incredibly sexy, with his body shamelessly on display and water continuing to cling to his skin. She shouldn’t find him sexy. She _couldn’t_ find him sexy.

“What’s your pizza order, then?” Annabeth snapped back, and from the way his smile grew, she might has well have just confirmed he’d guessed right from the start. Infuriatingly sexy. She hated it, how _attracted_ she was to him, like the hormone crazed teenager she had never actually been.

“All meat,” he told her, as if it were the only possible correct answer. Her eyes automatically rolled, because it was a such an obvious, dumb, macho guy answer, but before she could say anything about how stupid it was, he added, “with extra olives.”

Any retort she might have made died in her throat. It was stupid, but those three innocuous words made her happy. Annabeth met his gaze again, trying yet again in vain to discern what was hiding behind those beautiful sea green eyes. She couldn’t, so instead of giving him a proper reply she just adjusted the bag on her shoulder and said, “I’ll see you Monday, Percy,” before turning and walking away.

He didn’t try to stop her this time, but when Annabeth opened the locker room door she risked a look back. Percy hadn’t moved an inch, and that piercing gaze threatened to burn her up even from all the way across the room. Worse than the gaze itself was the realization that threatened to rear its ugly head – maybe she wanted it to.


	6. Chapter 6

It had never been Piper’s intention to sleep with Jason on their first date. 

Yes, she’d been at Club Jupiter the night they met hoping to get laid. Yes, she was still extremely keyed up and had spent the two nights since then thinking about nothing but tearing those carefully ironed and tucked clothes off his broad frame and leaving them crumpled on her bedroom floor, maybe even ripped (definitely ripped). Yes, as she was getting ready she made sure to pack all her overnight essentials (condoms, toothbrush, spare panties) in her purse. Yes, she told Annabeth not to worry if she happened not to come home that night, and also warned she might be bringing him _there_. None of that meant she intended for anything to happen, at least that’s what she told herself.

Piper had slept with plenty of guys on the first date. Sometimes the first date was the only date. This wasn’t something she was particularly ashamed of. She enjoyed sex. Usually. Mostly.

Jason, though, he was different than all those guys. Over the two days since they’d met, the differences between Jason and the guys that usually struck Piper’s interest had grown even more apparent. It was more than just the pristine, well kept, blonde haired, blue eyed package he came in, though even that much was in itself the opposite of her usual type. Jason Grace acted different at every turn.

There had been none of the usual pretext or games. Piper had woken up the day after they met to a text from Jason. He hadn’t waited a day or two in some attempt to seem aloof, and when she’d finally replied (four hours later, because his text had come at the unnatural hour of eight in the morning and Piper hadn’t woken up until noon), his response had come promptly. All her subsequent texts had been replied to just as quickly.

“You said that’s his sister, right?” Annabeth asked, the night before Piper’s date, when the two of them had curled up on the couch with junk food and Annabeth’s laptop and decided to look through Jason’s limited social media presence.

Piper nodded, looking at a picture of Jason and Thalia which seemed to be at least a couple years old. It had been hard to tell in the club lighting, but Jason and Thalia had the exact same electric blue eyes. It was the only feature they shared, aside from generally outrageous good looks and athletic builds. Piper had wondered if Thalia dyed her hair, but they’d come across a picture of the siblings as kids a couple minutes prior and discovered Thalia Grace had always had pitch black hair, and Jason Grace platinum blonde.

“So, who’s that?” Annabeth asked, pointing to the other girl in the picture and glancing at Piper with an eyebrow raised.

The question made Piper bristle, which she knew was the reaction Annabeth was trying to get out of her. It had been a long time since Piper had acted this way about a guy, and Annabeth was trying to gauge exactly how invested Piper was. If she was already exhibiting jealousy over other girls in pictures with him, it meant whatever she was feeling for Jason Grace was very, very different. Not since her very first boyfriend in seventh grade had Piper wasted time on something so petty as jealousy.

Unfortunately, she was jealous. The other girl in the picture was tall, lean with sensuous curves, and breathtakingly beautiful. Long, thick black hair cascaded down her shoulders. Her eyes were a warm shade of brown, and even in a picture they looked like the kind of eyes someone could easily drown themselves in. She looked strong, fit, confident. She glowed. All this would have been fine, nothing to be worried about, had her arm not been around Jason’s waist. If that was the kind of woman Jason Grace dated, Piper wasn’t sure she could measure up.

Piper was, admittedly, no slouch. Her father was a Hollywood heart throb and Piper had inherited most of her appearance from him. Though her body was slender, petite, she was confident enough in it. She knew how to play up her best features. In comparison to that beauty in Jason’s pictures, though, Piper felt like a slug. All she could think of were her much smaller breasts, her narrow hips, her stick like legs. If she had voiced these thoughts Annabeth would have laughed – Annabeth had always envied Piper’s body, for some completely inexplicable reason.

“I’ve only known him for two days, Annabeth, I have no idea,” she answered, trying not to sound completely annoyed by the fact.

A smirk had played across Annabeth’s face at the defensiveness in Piper’s voice. “Too bad most of his pictures seem to be posted by other people, and there aren’t many recent ones,” she observed. What Annabeth didn’t need to say was that, though the picture they were looking at wasn’t recent, the stunning woman with her arm around Jason’s waist had also appeared in the few that looked like they’d come from the last year.

Piper had put the thought out of her mind. If things went well, she could ask Jason about the mysterious and sexy woman later. All that mattered now was their first date.

And what a first date it was.

Jason had arrived at her door in a well tailored, navy blue suit that made his eyes take on a life of their own and left Piper absolutely speechless. For what it was worth, the feeling seemed to be mutual. When Piper had stepped out to meet him, in a simple black, form fitting dress with off the shoulder sleeves, her russet hair pinned carefully in an up do that managed to hide all her choppy layers, Jason’s eyes had traveled the length of her body twice over before settling on her face and letting out an almost imperceptible sigh.

As a smile had blossomed on Jason’s face, the little scar on his upper lip had become more prominent, and all of Piper’s intentions flew out the window. The urge to forget the date entirely, grab Jason by his tie and drag him back into her apartment to have her way with him then and there was so strong, it took all her willpower not to give in. She knew she’d be completely powerless by the end of the night.

Once they found their voices again, talking came easy. Both of them were tentative to talk about their families, but Piper bit the bullet and told him over appetizers that her father was, indeed, the infamous Tristan McLean, action star extraordinaire. Usually guys were excited to discover this fact about her, which Piper hated, but Jason surprised her by groaning. His mother, he told her directly after, was queen of daytime soap operas Beryl Grace.

“Shut up! You’re pulling my leg,” Piper replied, her mouth dropping, but as soon as he said it, Piper saw the resemblance. Beryl Grace had the same blue eyes Jason and Thalia shared. Piper had always assumed the actress dyed her hair, but it was also the same shade as Jason’s. She probably dyed the gray out now, but it was very likely the shade had been natural in her youth.

Jason shook his head, wearing the same weary look Piper often sported when talking about her father. “I really wish I was. I would give anything for that to be a lie.”

Piper understood the feeling all too well. More than once she’d wished she could throw everything in her life away just to have a normal dad and a normal relationship with him. Annabeth was the only one who’d ever seemed to be able to relate, and certainly no guy ever had. No guy until Jason Grace.

After dinner they went for a walk through the city. Their conversation continued without strain, talking about everything from the broader subjects of their personal dreams and ambitions – Jason was planning on going to Columbia Law School in the fall to study constitutional law and potentially go into politics someday – to the tiniest details like their favorite colors – Jason’s was purple. For a while they just walked shoulder to shoulder, only touching when they accidentally brushed against each other. Piper finally broke down and reached for his hand. His sister had warned her she’d have to make the first move, but she hadn’t anticipated that extending past the exchange of phone numbers.

They arrived back at Piper’s apartment door much too soon. Several hours had passed, but it had felt like the blink of an eye. With a start, Piper realized she’d had a glass of wine at dinner, but no other alcohol. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d enjoyed a date so much without at least a few drinks in her system – or if that had ever happened at all, once she’d gotten old enough for dating to include drinking.

“Come in for a nightcap?” Piper finally asked, after they’d been standing in the hallway talking for much longer than was normal, still holding hands, standing so close it made fire pump through Piper’s veins.

Jason hesitated, his breathing a little uneven, and Piper worried he might decline. “Your roommate won’t mind?” he asked instead.

“No. She’s probably already holed up in her room, working on something or other,” Piper assured him. Annabeth never minded when Piper brought overnight guests home. Actually, Piper knew Annabeth preferred it to Piper spending nights elsewhere, because at least then she knew Piper was safe. Jason didn’t need to know that, though.

“Sure,” Jason finally agreed, and anticipation set goosebumps loose on Piper’s skin.

Once inside, Piper grabbed a couple beers from the fridge and brought them into the living room, where she and Jason made themselves comfortable on the couch. He took off his blazer and draped it carefully behind him, she kicked off her shoes and pulled her legs up beneath her. 

They continued to talk. Piper found it difficult to keep her hands off him, which wasn’t a surprise, but her touches remained relatively innocent. She played with his fingers. When he finally rolled up his sleeves after the second beer, she traced the prominent veins on his forearms. He didn’t indulge in touching her, but he might as well have had his hands all over with the way he looked at her.

“Are you ever going to kiss me?” she finally asked, trying to keep her tone light and teasing, not as heavy and desperate as she felt.

Jason had been smiling almost the whole evening, but the way his lips curled upward when she made her demand was entirely too delicious. In his first move to initiate physical contact of the night, he reached out and tucked a bit of hair behind her ear. Her carefully crafted style had lasted the better part of the evening, but Piper’s shorter layers never stayed contained for long.

“I am,” he answered, and though he sounded calm on the surface, his voice was charged with electricity that threatened to explode without warning.

“Any idea when that’ll be?”

As Jason leaned in, Piper’s heart thundered in her chest. She’d never wanted a kiss as much as she wanted his, but the seconds dragged on, and though his nose brushed against hers, their lips didn’t touch. She could smell the beer on his breath, feel the heat of it on her face. The world seemed to disappear around her completely. No kiss in Piper’s extensive history of kissing had ever been this intimate, and Jason wasn’t even kissing her.

Cruelly, he finally reached out and tilted her head down, his lips pressing against her forehead in a sweet and delicate gesture.

“Goodnight, Piper McLean,” he said softly, still wearing that delectable grin.

She was breathless for a long time after Jason left, frozen on the couch, reliving every sweet, perfect second of the evening. His presence lingered. There was no escape now.

In all honesty, it had always been Piper’s intention to sleep with Jason Grace on their first date. She hadn’t anticipated his intentions might be different. There was not a single thing about him she could have anticipated, and she’d never been so excited to be disappointed.


	7. Chapter 7

After all the years Annabeth had known Piper McLean, she was still amazed by how quickly the girl could throw together a killer party. Annabeth would have needed weeks to fuss over every detail, never satisfied, changing her mind ten times about the most insignificant things. Piper was decisive, confident, sometimes even reckless.

Their furniture had been moved against the walls to make space for mingling and dancing. A keg had been brought in, and Piper had invested in plenty of harder alcohol and mixers of all varieties. More snacks than were probably necessary were scattered around the apartment in bowls and on platters. Streamers and balloons dotted the open space of kitchen and living room, enough to give the area a festive atmosphere but not so many that it became tacky.

Piper herself was dressed in a floral romper, her hair done in braids down either side of her face. How Piper always looked perfect was a mystery to Annabeth. Even when they were awkward tweens, Piper had managed to make it work better than the rest. She tried to pass her gift along to Annabeth, but Annabeth’s wild curls never cooperated when she tried to style them, and Piper’s most fashionable clothes always looked awkward when Annabeth wore them – if they even fit at all, which had become increasingly less common as they aged. When they were young, she definitely felt a little jealous. Now that Annabeth was older and more confident in who she was, her jealousy had transformed into pure admiration of her best friend.

“How many people did you invite?” Annabeth asked as Piper walked around and checked little details for the last time. Jason would be there soon, with Frank in tow. He’d said not to worry about being ready when they got there, but Piper was intent on making a great first impression.

Piper paused for a moment, getting a far away look in her eye. “Well, it’s hard to be sure. Jason invited a few people, and some of them invited a few people. I invited some of the Comms department, you know, the usual people, and told them they were welcome to bring a plus one. I’d guess it all comes to about… fifteen, twenty people?”

“At least,” Annabeth added. Last time Piper had thrown a party, she’d promised it would be a small guest list, about the same number. It had not been. Their apartment had been completely packed.

“Unless,” Piper said, drawing the word out and coming to lean against the kitchen island, “you invited someone, too?”

Instantly Annabeth’s face began to burn. She hadn’t told Piper about what had happened after her morning class. There was no way she was going to give Piper the satisfaction of knowing Annabeth had fallen into her trap and invited Percy, even if she’d only done so because of his concern for Hazel, and especially because she knew Piper would be able to tell Annabeth was disappointed her invitation had been declined.

“Nope,” Annabeth replied. “This party is all you.”

There was no time for Piper to be disappointed, because Jason and Frank arrived right then. God bless Jason Grace and his perfect timing.

Poor Frank was nervous from the moment he walked through the door, but Annabeth made sure she was there while he and Piper spent a few minutes getting to know each other. Sure, she hadn’t known Frank much longer herself, but she was proud to say she’d managed to wear down his defenses a little in those two hours they’d spent together over the week. 

He looked good, though he kept his jacket on despite it being plenty warm inside. The rest of his clothes were baggy, ill fitting. Annabeth understood the logic of why they would make him more comfortable, but she couldn’t help thinking how impressive he’d look in clothes that suited him better, showed off the muscular build he was trying to desperately to hide. Frank was a good looking guy, and she already knew he was outrageously sweet, he deserved all the confidence in the world.

Before long, other guests started to trickle in. Annabeth recognized Piper’s friends from her department and a few other familiar faces that had orbited Piper since their freshman year of college, and soon the party was well under way. It was a classic Piper McLean party, pictures being taken, drinks in every hand (and already being spilled, much to Annabeth’s chagrin), a generic party playlist blasting music over the hum of chatter as people talked and laughed. This meant Annabeth had taken her usual place, too, on a stool at the kitchen counter, sipping from a plastic cup of beer, observing people more than participating.

At least the host couple were enjoying themselves. Jason and Piper made the rounds, introducing each other to the guests they’d each invited, arms around each other and smiling. Watching them from a distance, Annabeth appreciated for the first time what a plainly beautiful couple they were, like something out of an old Hollywood movie – a comparison she was sure neither of them would appreciate. They complimented each other so perfectly, though.

Frank was glued to Jason’s side, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible even though he was being introduced to literally everyone. Annabeth considered going on a rescue mission, but it had barely been an hour. She’d give him more time, knowing he could at least escape to talk to her if it started to overwhelm him.

People continuing to show up over the course of a party was completely normal, so Annabeth wasn’t surprised when just short of two hours into festivities a small group meandered through the door. Annabeth instantly recognizing Jason’s sister, Thalia, from the pictures she’d seen. A petite, dark haired boy followed behind her and for a moment Annabeth wondered if maybe Jason also had a brother he hadn’t mentioned. No, she decided. Their features were far too different. Though this young man was good looking in his own right, his face appeared sullen by default, resting sulk face, and his complexion was far too different than either Jason or Thalia. She found it hard to believe even the wild potential of genetics could produce siblings so different. The other two who arrived with them surprised her, though. 

Hazel followed close behind the guy Annabeth had never seen. She looked adorable. Her beautiful, wild curls were let loose, surrounding her face in a cloud of brown and gold. She wore simple dress, with a sleeveless white lacy top and a high waisted, fluffy coral skirt. There had been no denying Hazel was cute in class, in the simplicity of a ponytail and a swimsuit, but it struck Annabeth then that Hazel was a truly gorgeous young woman, with full cheeks and big, curious eyes. She practically glowed.

Annabeth didn’t have much time to think about Hazel, though, because her eyes then turned to the fourth member of their party and she choked on her beer. There was no mistaking those striking features – the unknown woman who appeared in so many of Jason’s pictures online. She’d ventured the woman was an ex-girlfriend, but that made her presence there very uncomfortable.

Mind racing, Annabeth considered rushing over to whisper a warning to Piper, but before she could react Hazel’s face lit up and she rushed through the crowd into the kitchen. “Annabeth, right? From swim class?”

“Hey!” Annabeth replied, trying not to seem too distracted. Her eyes kept darting between the mystery woman and Piper, wondering when her best friend would notice.

Hazel seemed to mistake Annabeth’s distraction as not being recognized, because she laughed and introduced herself. “Hazel Levesque. I’m usually off to the side of the pool floundering around like an idiot or yelling at Leo.”

“No, no,” Annabeth quickly said, forcing herself to focus on Hazel. Piper was a big girl, she could handle herself. Probably. Maybe. “Sorry, there’s just a lot going on. It’s great to see you here, though. Do you know Jason?”

“Not exactly,” Hazel replied, turning to look behind her at the other party goers. “My brother is friends with Jason and Thalia, but I’ve only met them a few times.”

Annabeth’s eyebrows shot up. “Your brother?”

Hazel beamed. “Nico! He’s over there with Thalia and Reyna. He’ll probably disappear into the shadows in a few minutes. Nico and parties don’t mix, but he’s really close to Jason and I guess this party was important to him.”

It was a lot of information, and Annabeth did her best to process it all at once. Resting Sulk Face being Hazel’s sibling was even more shocking than it would have been had she found out he was related to Jason. Somethings Annabeth needed little knocks over the head like that to remind herself logic didn’t always work when jumping to conclusions. That wasn’t the detail her mind stuck on, though. Reyna. The mystery woman now had a name.

“I was a little nervous about coming, myself,” Hazel continued, giving Annabeth more time to process. “I felt better when Percy told me you’d be here. He was sorry he couldn’t come, by the way. I didn’t know you knew him!”

Annabeth choked on her beer again. “I don’t really,” she was quick to correct, trying not to focus on the fact that Percy had apparently been talking to Hazel about her. “He delivered a pizza here once, but I only really met him on Monday.”

This seemed to confuse Hazel. “Huh. I thought… Well, nevermind. You have a ni–“ she froze as Frank came over to join them, his hands in his pockets, his broad shoulders hunched.

“Hey, Annabeth,” he said first, then turned slowly, awkward even by his standards. “Hey, Hazel.”

“Hi,” Hazel squeaked, shifting between her feet nervously. They stared at each other for a second longer than would usually be appropriate, both seeming like they wanted to say something. Then their gazes flicked in opposite directions. “I should… I should go check on Nico.” With a little wave, Hazel disappeared.

Frank deflated entirely, collapsing into the stool next to Annabeth.

“What was that?” Annabeth asked, turning to rest an elbow on the counter, her head tilted as she examined Frank.

“Huh?” He looked up at her, his eyes alight with alarm. It was hard not to smile. Annabeth had quickly learned that one syllable responses from Frank meant she’d caught on to something he’d not intended to be caught. Frank’s problem was he wasn’t very subtle about, well, anything.

Very carefully, sensing Frank might spook and run, Annabeth asked, “You know Hazel? Because her brother is friends with Jason?”

“Oh. Yeah,” Frank relaxed a little, “and our parents have run in the same circles for forever. Her dad works for my grandpa. She doesn’t seem to like me much, though. She runs away like that whenever I come around.”

An idea popped into her head, and Annabeth’s curiosity got the best of her before she could think about how it might be none of her business. “Is that why you signed up for our class? You knew she was taking it?” It was the answer to a question even Jason hadn’t been able to provide – why Frank had dared to take a swim class when he hated to be seen without baggy clothes to hide behind. Frank had taken the class as an opportunity to get closer to Hazel. Annabeth was sure of it.

Frank hesitated, gnawing on his bottom lip for a few seconds, struggling with whether or not he should confirm Annabeth’s obvious suspicion. “She takes it every semester. Percy’s been the TA since last year and I think she has a crush on him. Who can blame her? He’s like the most perfect guy ever.”

“Hardly,” Annabeth responded with a scoff, as if she hadn’t spent plenty of time herself admiring him during their two class hours so far, as if she hadn’t struggled to get him out of her head every single day that week. There was no denying he was a superb physical specimen, but he was nowhere near perfect.

“To her, he is,” Frank replied, clearly not buying it. “I’m probably going to drop out on Monday. It was a stupid idea.”

“Like hell you are!” Annabeth said firmly, as if she hadn’t seriously considered doing the very same thing during their first lesson. “You’re not leaving me alone in that class, and you shouldn’t give up that easily.”

Frank shook his head. “She’s not going to notice me.”

“Not with that attitude. We’ve got two hours a week for four and half months. A lot can happen in that time,” she assured him. “And even if it doesn’t, you shouldn’t turn tail and run. See it through so you don’t have any regrets, or you’ll never know what could happen.”

She wasn’t entirely sure Hazel’s running away had anything to do with dislike, anyway. From the way Hazel was still glancing in their direction across the apartment – sipping from a red cup that probably contained beer and, God damn Percy Jackson, now Annabeth was worried about the girl – it seemed like Hazel was more interested than Frank realized. Annabeth doubted that nervously hopeful expression was for her.

He studied her for a moment, but Annabeth didn’t balk. She wanted him to believe it, to have a little faith in himself. “I guess I shouldn’t leave you alone,” Frank conceded, a hint of thankfulness in his expression.

“You’re stuck with me now,” she assured him, giving him a little pat on the shoulder, and it was nice to realize he liked the idea just as much as she did. 

As she settled into her conversation with Frank, Annabeth found herself enjoying this party more than most of Piper’s previous ones. She did her best to ignore the inexplicable, hopeful way she continued to watch the door. Percy wasn’t coming. Annabeth didn’t want him to come. Yet every time the door opened she was acutely aware, and annoyingly disappointed when it was never him.


	8. Chapter 8

Piper always forgot how much she hated throwing parties. Going to parties was great. Planning parties was also great. Hosting them was hell.

Too many people watched her. She had to smile, make small talk, say hello to everyone who walked through the door, even people she wasn’t super fond of – and even though she was the one who invited people, there was always somehow at least one person there that she couldn’t stand. Jason seemed to do it naturally, to thrive under the pressure of being the center of attention, which was both very attractive and completely infuriating. It wasn’t fair that someone could be so absolutely perfect.

At least things seemed to be going well. People were eating, drinking, talking and dancing. Piper was enjoying getting to know Frank, who was quite possibly the most endearing bear of a human being she had ever met. Annabeth had been right about him, and Piper would have to tell Jason to bring him around more often. She also kind of wanted to take him shopping, but convincing him to wear more flattering clothes would probably take some time.

Despite the general hellishness of hosting, Piper was feeling good about the party, which was why she should have expected things were just about to begin unraveling.

It started when Jason’s guests of honor arrived. Piper immediately recognized Thalia, and was really happy to finally see her again. She had no idea who the gloomy guy who walked in along with her was, nor the sweet looking girl in the pretty coral dress who apparently knew Annabeth and made a b-line straight to the kitchen where Piper’s best friend was hiding. None of that would have been a problem, had the fourth member of their party not been the stunning woman Piper had seen all over Jason’s social media.

Piper wasn’t going to panic. She was going to be calm and hope she’d misunderstood their relationship. Saying that was easier than doing it.

“Your sister’s here,” Piper said, giving Jason a little nudge.

He furrowed his brow, apparently sensing the way her shoulders had tensed, and the sharp edge to her voice. Whatever he must have thought, he shook it off and his expression quickly morphed into a wide smile as the three new arrivals made their way over to where Piper and Jason were standing. “Hey! I’m glad you guys could make it.”

“We almost didn’t, because _someone,_ ” Thalia said, giving the guy beside her a pointed look, “apparently had a very important video game appointment and refused to get ready when he needed to.”

The guy shrugged. “We’d been working up to that raid for two weeks. I couldn’t let the team down.”

After a heavy sigh, Thalia turned to Piper. “It’s good to see you again. I’m glad Jason actually had the guts to seal the deal.”

Piper laughed, but it sounded strained even to her own ears. “I had my doubts a couple times too.”

“Pipes, this is Nico and Reyna,” Jason said, pointing in turn to each of them. “Nico, Reyna, this is Piper.”

Nico nodded a greeting to Piper, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his black aviator jacket. His black hair was completely unkempt, like he had neither washed nor brushed it before coming. Deep, purple bags under the eyes were the only color in his face. Piper found it extremely curious that this dark, brooding guy was someone so important to Jason. There must have been quite a story there, but now wasn’t the time to ask for it.

“I’m going to go find a beer,” Nico said.

“Like hell! If I catch you drinking, you’re dead meat,” Thalia scolded, which was kind of an amusing image, but Nico didn’t seem to care. He flipped her the bird over his shoulder and disappeared completely into the crowd in a matter of seconds. Thalia once again turned to Piper. “That’s probably the warmest introduction you’re going to get to Nico di Angelo. Don’t worry, he gets less intolerable with time.”

“Thalia and Nico like to bicker,” Jason explained, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and leaning in to be heard over the music. Usually she would have liked the physical affection, so shameless and public, but the woman named Reyna was studying Piper with uncomfortable scrutiny. The gaze reminded her of Annabeth, except Piper wasn’t on Reyna’s list of unkillables.

“Uh,” Frank interrupted, startling Piper. She’d forgotten he was there, which was impressive for someone so large. He was looking toward the kitchen, where Annabeth was chatting with the other girl who’d walked in with Thalia’s group. “I’m going to go get a drink.”

“We’ll be here,” Jason said, and Piper noted a look of concern on his face as he watched Frank walk away.

Piper wrapped her arm around his waist reassuringly, deciding to ignore the glare Reyna was giving her. “Annabeth will take care of him, don’t worry.”

“Frank knows your roommate?” Thalia asked, following their gaze across the apartment. Her blue eyes matched Jason’s perfectly, down to the way they overflowed with concern for their nephew (Piper still found this relation absolutely hysterical).

“They have a class together,” Jason explained, turning his attention back to the group, though the contemplative set of his mouth told Piper he was still worried. Almost as soon as Frank appeared, Hazel had run off. They all watched as Frank dropped onto a stool beside Annabeth and the two began to talk. Everyone must have been satisfied Frank was alright, because their attention turned fully back to the conversation at hand.

“Right, the swimming class,” Thalia replied.

“Frank’s taking a swimming class? _Frank_?” Reyna asked, the first thing she’d said since walking in, her expression softening instantly into one of surprise. Piper felt like she was going to scream – even Reyna’s voice was beautiful.

Jason laughed, nodding. It was more or less the same reaction Piper had witnessed from him when Annabeth had told them about meeting Frank on Monday. “No idea why. I’m worried if I ask him about it he’ll panic and decide to quit. You know how he is. Annabeth says he’s been wearing a rash guard to class, so I guess he’s handling it.”

Reyna scoffed a laugh, crossing her arms over her chest. “I guess even Frank Zhang has a surprise or two up his sleeves.”

“How do you know Jason and Thalia, Reyna?” Piper interjected. Every fiber of her being felt on edge, desperate to figure out what their relationship was. She couldn’t imagine Jason would have invited an ex-girlfriend to their first party as a couple. He could be dense sometimes, but she didn’t think he was _that_ dense.

“You didn’t tell her about me, Jace?” Reyna asked, her eyebrows raised and head tilted toward Jason. If Piper’s eyes weren’t deceiving her, it looked like Reyna was a little hurt by the development. He looked away, suddenly very uncomfortable. When he didn’t speak again, Reyna reached out, shoved Jason’s shoulder lightly, and continued, “I was Jason here’s first kiss.”

So much for Piper’s faith in Jason’s sensibilities. He was an absolute idiot.

“That’s my cue to go find that little asshole Nico and steal his beer,” Thalia said, clapping her hands once. She looked just as uncomfortable as Jason had become, and glad she could at least escape the discomfort. Piper wanted to cry when Thalia disappeared without another word, leaving her alone with her boyfriend and his apparent ex-girlfriend.

“Your first kiss,” Piper repeated, her voice cold and even, looking at Jason. She retracted her arm and took a step away, out of his reach.

“Pipes,” Jason pleaded, wincing.

“It’s impressive that you’re still friends,” Piper said, trying her best not to let too much of her anger show. She wanted Jason to know that she was very unhappy with the situation, but didn’t want to let Reyna think she’d been as affected as she was. She was probably failing on the second front. Piper had never been any good at concealing her emotions without coming off extremely fake.

Reyna seemed to be enjoying Jason’s discomfort too much to be bothered by Piper’s change in demeanor, though. Usually Piper would too, but right now it just made her angrier. He wouldn’t be uncomfortable if he hadn’t put himself in this situation.

“ _Friends_ ,” Reyna replied, the corner of her mouth twitching. “Friends who’ve seen each other naked.”

Piper blanched, her stomach rolling with a blend of anger and hurt.

“Reyna’s trying to razz me, Pipes, it’s just what she does,” Jason said quickly, reaching for her, but Piper took another step back.

“Because you’re an idiot,” Reyna replied, but Piper didn’t care about excuses in that moment. “And you’re easy to razz. Plus you deserve it for not even telling her about me.”

Her relationship with Jason had been unlike any in Piper’s past. She was used to things that moved fast, relationships that were more physical than they were emotional. Piper’s relationships went hard and fast and burned out as quickly as they started. Jason hadn’t so much as kissed her until their second date, though, and even that much had taken more coaxing than Piper might have liked. It had been worth the work, of course. 

Piper’s first kiss with Jason had been complete and utter magic. It had felt as if she’d been living in black and white and he turned the world to technicolor, like Dorothy stepping out of her average, drab life and into the magical land of Oz. That kiss had changed something in her. It had been a religious experience. Just one, simple kiss had flipped her entire life upside down.

Three weeks later, kissing was still all they’d done.

It wasn’t like the kissing hadn’t intensified. Their make out sessions had become increasingly hot and heavy. Jason also slept over occasionally, but on those nights sleeping was all they did, and it had only happened because they’d accidentally fallen asleep on the couch watching old movies the night after their second date, when Jason had asked her to make things official. Piper didn’t mind it, even though taking it so slow was new for her, and sometimes it made her feel insecure, like the reason he could resist the urge to rip all her clothes off and ravish her was because he didn’t actually find her attractive.

Now Piper stood in front of one of the most beautiful women she’d ever seen in real life (which was saying something, because Piper had met plenty of the Hollywood starlets her dad had dated over the years) and was being blindsided with the information that _she_ had been with Jason in ways Piper hadn’t, knew him in ways Piper didn’t. Piper felt shattered, betrayed that Jason would not only let this woman walk into their party, but actively invite her himself. All of that, and he hadn’t bothered to so much as warn her, either. It was beyond being senseless, it was cruel, intentional or not.

“What the hell?” Reyna said, shaking Piper out of her thoughts and pain. For a second she thought Reyna had been talking to her, the disdain in her voice aimed at Piper for reacting so strongly to the way Jason was being teased. Reyna had turned toward the door, though. “What’s that asshole doing here?”

Piper’s mind was a complete mess, but she followed Reyna’s gaze to the front door and discovered the person in question. He was maybe an inch shorter than Jason, but still tall enough that he stood out over the crowd. He wore a green army jacket over a t-shirt with the logo of a band Piper had never heard of printed on it, and a pair of well fitting, but also well worn, jeans. His black hair was damp from rain and he was ruffling it as he looked around the party. Whoever he was didn’t notice Reyna. His gaze had already settled on the kitchen and a smile was forming on his lips.

“What? Who is that?” Piper asked. He looked vaguely familiar, and if her mind hadn’t already been so addled, she probably would have made the connection herself. Piper had been the one who’d answered the door when he’d delivered their pizza the Sunday before.

There were a lot of wonderful thoughts that connection also would have blessed Piper with. She would have immediately noticed the way his eyes shined in Annabeth’s direction, singling her out of the crowd like it was a well practiced habit. She would have felt the sweet vindication of confirmation that, yes, this guy absolutely had the hots for her best friend and Piper had been right, thank you very much. She would have been able to enjoy the realization that it was probably Annabeth who’d invited him, even if she’d lied about it to Piper’s face. Sadly, Piper’s brain was stuck on her own stupid predicament and she could only watch the scene before her play out in frustrated confusion.

Reyna practically growled the name, the hatred rolling off of her in palpable waves, “Percy fucking Jackson.”


	9. Chapter 9

Annabeth was enjoying her conversation with Frank. He’d gotten himself a beer and was beginning to unwind a little, telling Annabeth a few stories about growing up with Jason. She still wasn’t sure how Jason had wound up with a nephew only a year his junior, and she wasn’t going to ask for any personal details they weren’t comfortable offering up themselves, but it was clear the two of them had been close their whole lives. It was also clear Frank loved and respected Jason immensely.

They were laughing over a story about fifteen year-old Jason being hit in the head with a stray baseball during a district championship, passing out and missing the entire game, when Annabeth glanced at the door and froze. Percy Jackson had just walked in.

Frank followed her gaze to the door and instantly went back into his defensive slouch mode. “Oh… I didn’t know he was going to be here…”

“He wasn’t supposed to be,” Annabeth said, suddenly feeling nauseous. She wished she could accredit the feeling to the beer, but she was only on her second and she held her alcohol fairly well. He’d spotted her and he was already smiling. Annabeth had half a mind to toss him out a window because, God, that smile was making the nausea worse in the best way. “I’ll be right back,” she told Frank, setting her beer on the counter and giving her new friend a supportive pat on the arm.

Percy was already picking his way through the other guests toward her when Annabeth slipped off her stool, but she didn’t get two steps before she noticed Reyna pushing toward Percy from the corner of her eye. It happened in a blink, before Annabeth even had a second to process what was happening. Percy noticed Reyna coming, too, his smile instantly dissolved, and then Reyna’s fist made contact with his nose.

Chaos broke loose. Percy crumbled to the floor in surprise, his nose bloody. Reyna looked like she was about to tackle him and keep punching, but then Thalia was there, wrapping her arms around Reyna’s waist and pulling her back. Jason and Frank both rushed forward, helping Thalia to restrain Reyna and begin moving her toward the door. Nico and Hazel appeared, but while Nico stayed back and observed from the sidelines, his expression unreadable, Hazel immediately dropped to check on Percy, her face a mess of worry.

Annabeth might have stood there forever, in shock, but she looked to Piper and something about the expression her best friend wore spurred Annabeth into action. She couldn’t be entirely sure, but her gut told her the look on Piper’s face had to do with more than the small fight that had almost just broken out. Annabeth had to take action. The party was over.

As Jason’s friends and family wrangled Reyna out the door, Annabeth rushed to the stereo, cut the music off, and flipped the lights on. Most of the other guests had already stopped their dancing and conversing to watch the conflict, so it wasn’t difficult for Annabeth to summon their attention. “Party’s over! Thanks for coming! See you next time! Take some snacks on your way out! Seriously, there are way too many snacks, take them!”

Piper disappeared almost as soon as the music had been cut and Annabeth wished she could run after her, but getting their guests out of there would help more at the moment than lending an ear. Annabeth spent the next fifteen or so minutes getting their apartment cleared, apologizing to people, saying goodbyes to Piper’s friends for her. She tried to ignore Jason and his group still in the hall, but she was a little annoyed that he was neither helping her get everyone cleared out nor chasing after his clearly distressed girlfriend.

When all was said and done, only Hazel and Percy remained in the living room. At some point Hazel had gotten toilet paper for him and he’d managed to stop the bleeding, though his shirt was stained with blood and already his face was beginning to bruise. There were a lot of things Annabeth wanted to say to him then, but she worried she might make a bad situation worse – or, terrifyingly, undo whatever progress she’d seemed to make with him that morning.

“I thought you weren’t coming,” she finally said, her hands on her hips as she looked down at him, exasperated. It was what she was going to say to him before all the crazy had broken out, so she figured it was a good, neutral place to start.

Percy smiled, but the movement made him wince. “It was a slow night. Boss told me I didn’t need to stay, so I thought, ‘Great! It’s not too late, I can make a surprise entrance!’ Well, _surprise_.” Despite her immense frustration over the turn the night had taken, Annabeth struggled not to laugh. It certainly was a surprise, that much was true.

Before she could say anything else, Jason stuck his head in the door and looked around. “Where’s Piper?”

“I think she’s in her room,” Annabeth answered, tilting her head toward the hall. About time he asked. “She disappeared right after… whatever the hell that was.”

Jason nodded, his brow deeply furrowed. “I have to get everyone home. Will you tell her I’ll call her in an hour or two?”

Something was wrong with Piper, Annabeth knew that much, and she was worried it was because of Jason and his relationship with Reyna, whatever it was. “Are you sure?” she asked him, not knowing whether she meant if he was sure he wanted to leave Piper like this or if he was sure he’d call. Both, probably.

Another nod, this one less certain, and then Jason asked, “Hazel, you coming?”

“I’ll get Hazel home,” Percy replied, not even looking back at Jason. There was an edge to his voice.

“Hazel can speak for herself,” Annabeth told him, daring either of the guys to object with a defiant stare. Her first conversation with Hazel ever may have only been a few minutes before, and short at that, but like hell was Annabeth going to let the boys talk over her.

Hazel let out a quiet laugh, amusement making her golden eyes sparkle like they were really made of precious metal, and directed her answer to Jason. “I’ll stay for now. Tell Thalia thanks for bringing me, please.”

Jason nodded for a third time and disappeared without another word.

Annabeth took another look at the pitiful state Percy was in, sighed, and turned for the kitchen. Filling a dish towel with ice, she returned and knelt down next to him, carefully applying the cold pack to his face. “Do you think it’s broken?” she asked him.

“Nah,” he replied, reaching up to take the pack from her. His fingers brushed the back of her hand and she actively told herself to ignore the way her skin tingled where they touched. “It’s been broken before. I think she just hit it right to make it bleed. I’ll be ugly as hell tomorrow, though.”

“Does this happen to him often?” Annabeth asked Hazel. She had a feeling it did, if he could tell just from the way it felt whether it was broken or not.

“Not as much as it used to,” Hazel replied, her voice full of affection and a small smile on her face despite the fact that her friend had just been slugged. “Percy used to pick fights all the time in middle school, got kicked out of a couple.”

Percy rolled his eyes. “I didn’t pick fights, they just… found me.”

“Like Reyna found you just now,” Annabeth teased, the smile she’d been fighting finally creeping up unbidden.

“I didn’t know Reyna would be here,” he said. Annabeth was surprised to see an apologetic glint in his eye, aimed at her. “I’m sorry I ruined your party.”

“Whatever your issue with Reyna is, you’re not the one who threw the punch. You don’t have anything to be sorry to me for,” Annabeth told him, and it was true. Even if he deserved the punch, which she wouldn’t be entirely surprised if he did, he hadn’t actively tried to antagonize anyone, he’d just walked in. He owed her no apology.

Hazel’s gaze had dropped to her lap, studying her hands as she wring her fingers. “I should have texted you that she was coming.”

“Hazel, please,” Percy said, a gentleness seeping into his voice that surprised Annabeth. “If I’d been thinking I would have realized it myself. You told me Nico had moved in with her. The connection was there, I was just…” He paused, glancing at Annabeth for a second before continuing, “I just wanted to check up on you.”

The sweet girl didn’t look convinced, but she nodded.

He reached into his pocket with his free hand and pulled out some keys, holding them out to Hazel and letting them dangle. “Why don’t you go get the car, bring it around?”

With reverence, Hazel reached to take the keys, her entire face lighting up as a smile spread from ear to ear. “You’re letting me drive?”

“Just this once,” Percy told her, stern, and then held up a single finger to drive the point home. “Once. And if you get a scratch on her, I’m going to make you do nothing but non-stop laps in class for the rest of the semester.”

Hazel didn’t hesitate. She leaned over, kissed Percy on the cheek – which made him cringe from apparent pain – and was on her feet in an instant. “Thanks for the party Annabeth. I’ll see you in class on Monday!” Just like that, Hazel was gone, a skip in her step as the door closed behind her.

“Her?” Annabeth asked, looking to Percy with her eyebrows raised as high as they could go.

“Bessie,” Percy replied, removing the ice pack from his face and offering it to Annabeth. He was smiling almost as wide as Hazel had been despite the pain, and even with dried blood on his face and the purplish hue of a budding bruise, the sight made Annabeth’s pulse quicken. The absolutely stupid name of his car only seemed to make it worse.

“Keep it,” she told him, pushing his hand away.

With a nod, he set the cold pack beside him and leaned back on his arms. “Every time I come here, I get hassled by some girl.”

Annabeth winced this time, the memory of last Sunday rushing back to her in all its glory and filling her with embarrassment. “I’m sorry about that,” she said, hoping the shame in her expression showed her sincerity. “That’s not… I was disoriented and I guess I got defensive. I probably sounded completely entitled.”

“You did,” he agreed with a laugh, “but it’s cool. You seemed like a good enough sport in class that first day, so I figured it was a fluke or something. Plus, most people who get wrong orders don’t chase me down the stairs, they just call the store and blame it on me, and then the boss gets mad without even looking into what went wrong. You were pretty impressive before you went all, ‘Customer service, blah, blah, blah.’”

Being reminded of her words made her groan, dropping her face into her hands to hide. “Please don’t remind me. I’ve always hated it when people say things like that. I was absolutely out of my mind.”

“If you react like that, I’m going to remind you every day,” Percy teased, reaching out to grab one of her wrists and pull her hands back down. For several heartbeats his hand lingered there, setting her skin on fire and charging the air between them, but then he released her and cleared his throat.

Annabeth looked away. “Well, next time you come over, hopefully you won’t have to worry about being accosted.”

“Next time I come over?” he asked. “You planning on having me over often?”

“No!” Annabeth said quickly, her face instantly growing so hot she thought it might very well burst into flame. “No. I– I just– I meant… you know. Just. If you happen to be here… again, at some point.”

Percy laughed again, and immediately winced from the pain, grabbed the ice pack, and applied it. “I should head out. Hazel’s going to take Bessie for a joyride if I leave her down there alone too long.”

“And I should check on my roommate,” Annabeth agreed, though she wasn’t exactly excited to see him go so soon. She got to her feet anyway and offered Percy a hand up.

They stood in silence, looking at each other, as seconds ticked past. He smelled just the way she remembered from that first night, the same as the candle she had somehow managed to almost completely burn through in less than a week. His eyes threatened to drown her, and in a moment of weakness she thought she would happily let them. She was the first to break away.

“Get home safe,” she told him, wrapping her arms around herself, as if they could protect her from the pounding of her own heart. “And you really should have someone look at your nose, just in case.”

“I’ll have coach check it out. He’s got a sports medicine degree,” he replied, glancing at the door. She wasn’t sure if it was her imagination or not, but he suddenly seemed jittery. “See ya on Monday. For real this time.”

“See you Monday,” she agreed, hoping he didn’t notice how jittery she had also become, and quickly tried to write off her deepening disappointment to something, anything else. She couldn’t. There was no other explanation.

Annabeth was disappointed. Disappointed the night had been cut short. Disappointed to watch him go. Disappointed he wouldn’t be back.


	10. Chapter 10

Piper didn’t want to tell Annabeth what had happened with Reyna – she was having enough trouble sorting through the details herself and she was completely miffed when Annabeth told her Jason had decided to leave without clearing the air – so she decided to make Annabeth answer questions instead. It was both much easier and a very nice distraction, and Annabeth was actually _willing_ to answer. That willingness was a pleasant surprise.

“Do you know how Percy got invited?” she asked, sitting cross-legged on her bed, even though she was pretty sure knew the answer already. Piper had changed into sweats and removed her makeup. Getting cleaned up had been her first distraction, thankfully Annabeth came in as she was finishing up and provided the second.

“I invited him,” Annabeth answered, sounding very much like admitting it was painful. She was quick to continue so Piper didn’t have the opportunity to gloat, which was extremely rude. “He’s close with Hazel and he was worried about her being at a party with a bunch of people she didn’t know well, so I told him it was fine if he wanted to come by. I didn’t tell you earlier because he’d said he had work, but apparently he got off early and decided to swing by. To see Hazel.”

Piper raised her eyebrows. “It wasn’t Hazel he was walking toward with a stupid smile on his face right after walking in the door.”

Because Piper was right, Annabeth had no way to answer that. Piper loved when she was so unarguably correct that Annabeth didn’t even try. It happened so rarely. “Anyway,” Annabeth began instead, “he said he was sorry, and I told him it wasn’t his fault, but I’m sure he’d want you to hear it too.”

“It wasn’t his fault,” Piper agreed, but the last thing she wanted was to broach that subject, so she decided to find another. “He’s pretty hot, though. If you ask me, you should just give in and let whatever’s happening there happen. You’d probably have fun. It might even be great.”

“I’m not having this conversation,” Annabeth replied, though Piper noted the decided lack of denial in regards to his hotness. She also noticed curiosity in Annabeth’s eyes, a hint of interest hidden behind an impenetrable wall of carefully crafted defenses.

“We’re going to need to have this conversation eventually,” Piper replied, though her tone was softer, less insistent, and without a trace of teasing. While she didn’t say it outright, they both knew she was now talking about more than Percy. “You’ve avoided it for years, Annabeth. You can’t go on like this forever.”

Annabeth shifted uncomfortably. Piper knew she hated talking about feelings. They were illogical things that didn’t play by any definitive rules, and it made them harder for her to understand. Piper also knew that the longer feelings went ignored and buried, the more complex and illogical they became. These feelings, the pain Annabeth had locked away for so long, were undoubtedly even more complex. For years Piper had been trying to convince Annabeth to let them out, to talk and work through it, but her pleas always fell on deaf ears.

“I’m not having this conversation,” Annabeth repeated, firm and guarded. “And I’m certainly not going to let Percy Jackson fuck me, if that’s what you’re getting at. I’m going to thank my lucky stars that he’s not holding a grudge over me for being a jerk faced idiot so I can pass his class, finish this semester, graduate, and do everything in my power to become a world class architect before I’m thirty.”

Piper wasn’t sure why those things had to be mutually exclusive – and she also wasn’t sure, after the way he had looked at Annabeth when he’d walked into the apartment, that Percy’s interests were as simple as hooking up – but she decided to drop it. If she pushed Annabeth, Annabeth would push back about Piper’s problems. Or it would end in a fight, which would be significantly worse considering she figured she would need her best friend desperately in the next day or two. Being upset with Jason was bad enough. If she also ended up upset with Annabeth, Piper would be completely lost.

“Let’s just get some sleep,” Piper said with a heavy sigh, defeated, just as she was every time she tried to bring up the subject of Annabeth’s carefully guarded, painful secret. “I’m exhausted and I just want this night to be over.”

“Same,” Annabeth said with a matching sigh. “Sleep tight, McLean.” She patted Piper’s knee a couple times and headed out, leaving Piper alone with her thoughts.

The thoughts were bad. They kept her up for most of the night, and when she woke up needing to pee at the unreasonably early hour of nine the next morning, they made it impossible to go back to sleep. 

Jason had sent her a text at about three, while she had been asleep, which was unusual for him. His texts very rarely came after midnight and never before seven, but generally in the late morning or early afternoon because he knew that was when she woke up. A middle of the night text told the reasonable part of Piper’s mind that he was worried and she should try to be understanding, or worse, that something had happened to him and there was an emergency. Unfortunately for Jason, the reasonable part of Piper’s mind was infinitesimal at the moment and the unreasonable part was running rampant (and fortunately for Piper, there was no emergency). She refused to even read the text.

Instead, once she was awake, she stomped around the apartment all morning doing chores, cleaning up the party mess just to keep herself busy. Annabeth watched in complete disbelief from the couch where she was getting an early start on her homework, but decided not to say anything. At least Piper was cleaning up her own party’s mess without being harassed into it. There certainly was a first time for everything.

Noon came and went without Piper stopping to eat. She continued to hold her tongue about what had happened the night before and Annabeth didn’t press her about the issue. Piper supposed Annabeth had learned a long time ago that, when something was bothering her, there was no sense in trying to make Piper talk. Sooner rather than later, Piper’s emotions would come to a boil and she’d either realize she needed to talk or just plain burst. It never took long.

At about one, Piper reached her boiling point. She plopped down on the couch next to her best friend and began to tell her tale. By the end of the story, Annabeth had set aside her textbooks and was staring at Piper in disbelief.

“And he _left_ after that,” Annabeth said, as if she herself hadn’t watched him walk out. “What the fuck.”

All Piper could do was nod. In some ways, his leaving was the worst part. He was more worried about his ex, who’d caused a commotion in the middle of their party, than he was about sticking around and checking on his current girlfriend. The ex who was his first kiss and had seen him naked. That part was also pretty damn bad.

For a minute or so Annabeth was silent, thinking over all the information Piper had just dumped on her. Gears worked so quickly in Annabeth’s mind Piper could practically hear them turn. Finally she said, “There must be a piece we’re missing here. Jason can be a little dense sometimes, and he was an idiot for running out last night, but I don’t think he would purposefully leave you hanging this long if he didn’t have an important reason. He told me he’d call, or maybe he’s planning on coming over to talk in person?”

Suddenly Piper couldn’t meet Annabeth’s eye. Annabeth had unwittingly set a trap and Piper had walked right into it, caught. “He… hasn’t left me hanging. He texted me last night, and like… a bunch of times already today. I just haven’t read any of them,” she admitted, bracing herself for the scolding she knew was about to come.

“Piper McLean, if you don’t pick that phone up right now and read those texts, I _will_ stab you with this pencil,” Annabeth said immediately, as expected, picking her pencil up off the coffee table to emphasize the threat. While Piper wasn’t actually afraid of being stabbed with the pencil, and threats of violence from Annabeth were rarely given in serious situations, she knew it was time to be mature and read Jason’s texts.

Before she could so much as pick up and unlock her phone, though, there was a knock at the door and they both turned to look at it. “Oh God, that’s probably him,” Piper whined, knowing there was no one else who would show up unannounced.

“That man,” Annabeth said quietly, reverently, her pencil still held threateningly in hand, “truly has a gift for dramatic timing.”

Jason actually had a key. Giving one to him after so short a time together had been equal parts ridiculous and sensible. Ridiculous because she, admittedly, barely knew him. Sensible because he spent so much time there and kept forgetting things when he spent the night. Piper had figured Annabeth would object when she’d suggested it, but instead Annabeth had shrugged, agreed it made enough sense, and said she thought Jason was trustworthy. The fact that he knocked even though he could have walked right in only confirmed everything they had come to believe about his character.

“Answer it for me, please? So I can at least read his texts before we talk?” Piper pleaded, jutting out her bottom lip and doing her best puppy dog eyes. It had been a while since she’d pulled that trick and it only worked half the time at best, but Annabeth rolled her eyes, got up and trudged toward the door.

As fast as humanly possible, Piper grabbed her phone and finally pulled up the texts. She could vaguely hear the sounds of the door opening and Annabeth speaking, Jason replying, but she didn’t bother to listen. Instead she read.

 **JASON (03:15AM)**  
Are you okay? I’m sorry I had to leave before we could talk. It’s all a long story. Do you want me to come by now?

 **JASON (09:04AM)**  
I know you’re probably asleep, but give me a call when you wake up?

 **JASON (10:22AM)**  
The things Reyna said weren’t what they sounded like, I promise. Just call when you wake up, please. I’ll explain everything.

 **JASON (10:23AM)**  
And she’s sorry about losing it and ruining the party. Like I said, long story. I didn’t even know most of it until last night.

 **JASON (10:58AM)**  
You’re probably just still sleeping, but I’m starting to get worried. I’m really sorry, Pipes. I know I screwed up. Please just send a text to let me know you’re safe?

 **JASON (11:20AM)**  
Let me take you to lunch? Or bring you something? Annabeth, too. Just tell me what you’re in the mood for.

 **JASON (12:11PM)**  
That’s it! I’m coming over, just to make sure you’re safe. I’ll leave if you don’t want to talk. Or call. If you call or text before I get there, I’ll turn around. Please call?

“Are you really only just reading them?” Jason asked from behind her.

Piper fumbled with her phone, straightened her back, took a deep breath and then turned to face him. He was dressed in a purple cashmere sweater that clung to his arms and chest in all the best ways, with his hands tucked into the pockets of dark jeans, and wire framed glasses setting on his nose. Those stupid glasses always drove her especially crazy, though she hadn’t admitted as much to him yet. It wasn’t fair that he could look so _good_ – and even though she was still mad, that really was all she could think about for a few seconds – while he also appeared to be completely exhausted. The bags under his eyes made her wonder if he’d even slept at all the night before.

“Yes,” she admitted, feeling more than a little ashamed. Ignoring his texts had been childish. She could have at least told him she was upset and needed some space. Jason would have respected that.

Or maybe, just maybe, the childish part of her had wanted to punish him until he gave in and came over to grovel at her feet in person. It would seem that childish part of her won, but she didn’t feel particularly good about it.

“I’ve been out of my mind the whole morning, Pipes, and you weren’t even reading my texts,” he told her, though she noticed there wasn’t any anger in his voice. If anything, he sounded a little amused – tired, but amused. Staying mad at him was annoyingly difficult when he looked like _that_ and was staring at her like she was the most adorable thing on the planet, even though she’d been a bit of a jerk.

Annabeth slowly padded toward the hall, as if a sudden movement or sound would spook them. “I’ll give you two some space to talk, then.”

“No!” Piper called. She wanted Annabeth there, mostly because she always felt stronger when Annabeth was beside her. If she was going to stand a chance against Jason’s inexplicable power over her, she was going to need some Annabeth strength. “Stay. It was your party, too. You deserve an explanation and apology as much as I do.”

“Actually, it wasn’t my–” Annabeth started, but apparently Piper’s expression of barely contained frustration was enough to convince her she didn’t want to finish that sentence. She raised her hands in surrender, not wanting Piper’s anger turned on her. “Or, I can stay. It’s definitely not awkward for me to be part of this conversation.”

“So,” Piper crossed her arms over her chest, turning her attention fully back to Jason, “explain yourself.”

Jason opened his mouth to speak, but another knock on the door stopped him. For a few seconds the three of them just looked at each other. Piper momentarily forgot her own anger, too confused by who would be knocking on their door at almost two in the afternoon on a Saturday, especially when Jason was already there. They never had unannounced visitors. In the age of smartphones and texting, arriving unannounced was unheard of (cases in which she was childishly ignoring her boyfriend’s texts not withstanding, since technically he _had_ announced he was coming). It was also rare for them to have any kind of solicitors, aside from the occasional school fundraiser or Girl Scout cookie seller from other families that lived in the building.

Piper might not have been too upset if it was cookies, actually, though she wasn’t sure it was even cookie season. She’d have to remember to look into that later.

“I’ll… get the door?” Annabeth said, as if she hadn’t done that very thing a minute before and the concept was completely foreign to her.

Both Jason and Piper watched with rapt curiosity, the confrontation they were about to have momentarily unimportant in comparison to the mystery at hand. Annabeth peeked into the peephole and seemed even more confused when she leaned back. Before Piper could ask who it was, Annabeth opened the door and all three of them were once again looking at the smiling face of Percy Jackson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> while i have you here, i'd like to ask everyone to consider stopping by https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/ if you haven't already. if you can't donate (or already have!) there are also a ton of petitions there that only take a few quick clicks to sign and every voice added helps.


	11. Chapter 11

It took about three seconds for Percy to figure out he’d interrupted something serious and for his smile to melt away, which Annabeth found quite impressive. His eyes moved from her, to Jason, to Piper, and that was all he needed. Percy clearly had good instincts.

“Hi,” he said tentatively, his voice a little robotic. Annabeth remembered what he’d said the night before, about being accosted every time he came over, and wondered if he was considering whether he was once again in danger. “I, uh, still felt bad about last night, so I thought I’d swing by with a peace offering. A _pizza offering_ , if you will.” As he said it, he held up the pizza box to display. Annabeth had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. He must have practiced that line the whole way there.

His nose didn’t look too bad the morning after. There was minimal swelling, which meant he was probably right about it not being broken. The inner corners around both his eyes had turned a nasty shade of purple, but that seemed to be the extent of his injuries. Annabeth was glad to see as much.

“Right,” he continued, when nothing but stunned silence met his clearly well practiced, terrible pun. “This seems like a bad time, so I’ll just leave the pizza and head out. Probably never set foot in this building again, because clearly I’m cursed. Or it’s cursed. Or both.” Once again, his eyes darted between the three of them. When they landed back on Annabeth, the corner of his mouth quirked upward.

Oh God. Heat rushed to her face. She was an absolute mess, still in the cotton shorts and old, bright orange boarding school gym t-shirt she had slept in that night, her hair tied back lazily and unbrushed. It wasn’t entirely different from what she’d been wearing when she’d chased him down the steps the Sunday before, but now she _knew_ him. If there was a god (any god would really do, Annabeth wasn’t picky), and that god had even an ounce of mercy in their entire being, they would have struck her dead right that second just to spare her the complete and utter mortification.

It was quite possibly the longest awkward silence anyone had ever experienced, all four of them seeming to struggle with their own loss for words, though Annabeth guessed each reason was different.

Jason was the first to recover his senses. “Thanks,” he said reluctantly, and crossed to the door so he could take the pizza out of Percy’s hands. Annabeth glanced at him as he approached, surprised by the expression he wore. Jason, who was usually so amiable, even when he’d arrived at their door that afternoon only to discover Piper had been ignoring him all day, looked guarded and cold.

“Well,” Percy said, shrinking under the intensity of Jason’s glare, “take care.”

Annabeth’s mind managed to reboot then and went into overdrive. “Wait!” she called. “I’ll walk you out. It’s the least I can do… since you brought a…” she hesitated, cringing as she said the words, “ _pizza offering._ ”

Not wanting to give anyone, namely Piper, an opportunity to object, Annabeth quickly slipped past Jason and pushed Percy into the hall. “I’ll be back in a few, don’t worry!” she called in the most cheery voice she could manage, wiggling her fingers at Piper in a wave through a barely cracked door before she closed it.

With the door shut, Annabeth turned and pressed her back to it, heaving a very large sigh of relief. “You might have just saved my life,” she told Percy, keeping her voice only barely above a whisper so it wouldn’t carry through the door.

Percy slipped his hands in his jacket pockets and seemed to relax a little. “Were they arguing?” he asked, matching her volume perfectly.

“I think?” she answered, and they both laughed. Laughing _with_ him was exhilarating, and instantly she wanted to do it again. “They haven’t been dating long, so I’m not entirely sure what’s about to happen in there. All I know is that I didn’t want to be in the middle of it, but Piper wasn’t going to let me leave.”

“Then I’m glad to have been of service,” Percy replied, holding his pocketed hands out in a gesture that opened his jacket while he took a shallow bow.

“As a thanks for your service, and for the pizza, I won’t keep you any longer,” Annabeth said, sweeping her hand toward the elevator as if to tell him he was allowed to leave at his leisure.

Lips pursed, he considered this for a few seconds. “You told them you were walking me out. I’d hate to make you into a liar.”

It was tempting, but she looked down at her threadbare pajamas, then out the hall window at the cold January afternoon and hesitated.

“Just to the lobby,” Percy suggested, understanding her hesitation. The fact that he was trying to convince her, bargain with her for an extra few minutes together, was as exciting as it was terrifying.

 _Just give in and let whatever’s happening there, happen. You’d probably have fun. It might even be great,_ Piper’s voice spoke in her mind, encouraging her. Annabeth had always hated the way Piper’s voice lived in her head like some kind of additional conscience, guiding her even when she didn’t want it. Right then she really didn’t want it. Her own traitorous mind was bad enough.

Fear of being hurt had held her back from pursuing anything, anyone, for so long. She didn’t know anything about Percy, but knowing before diving in hadn’t protected her before. If anything, it had caused her even more pain. And a walk to the lobby wasn’t a commitment. It wasn’t even a date. It was a conversation. Annabeth could handle a conversation. Annabeth wanted a conversation, if it was with him.

“Just to the lobby,” she agreed. The way he smiled managed to melt all her fears away for a few blissful seconds.

Annabeth started toward the elevator, but Percy had other ideas. He stopped at the top of the stairs, looking at her expectantly, and she followed him. For the first few steps, they stayed silent. This measure was significant because Percy made each one last as long as humanly possible, and she matched his pace without complaint.

“How’d you meet… you said your roommate’s name was Piper, right?” Percy finally asked, glancing back up at the door to her apartment.

“Yeah, Piper. It was at this stupid boarding school in sixth grade,” Annabeth answered, smiling at the memory. Leaving her answer at that would have been easy, but she found she didn’t want to. Talking about Piper was safe, it was natural, it made her happy. The words flowed from her easily as she continued, “We were assigned as roommates and I was super intimidated by her at first. She was so good at making friends. We had uniforms, of course, but she always found these clever ways to make it her own, make it fashionable and trendy so she stood out. I really wanted her to like me, but I had no idea to talk to her, so we’d just sit there awkwardly in our room at night, barely saying anything. 

“Then, one night about halfway through our first semester, I got back from taking a shower and found her curled up on her bed crying. I had no idea how to handle someone who was crying, but I couldn’t just leave her to cry, so I asked her what was wrong. She told me her dad had just called, told her he wasn’t going to be able to make it to Parents’ Night. The right thing to say just came to me, like magic, even though I’d never known the right thing to say to anyone, ever.

“I told her,” Annabeth continued, grinning wide now despite the sad circumstances in her story, “that my dad wasn’t coming, either, so we could just go to all of the events together, and it would be even cooler because parents were lame, anyway. So, we did. And it was awesome. And we were inseparable from then on.”

They took another two steps before Percy spoke. “Your parents really didn’t show?”

She shook her head, her smile turning bittersweet. It was what had brought Annabeth and Piper together, but it still stung to remember the absence of their own parents. “Seven years of boarding school, not a single parental visit for either of us.”

Two more steps, and then they were on the second floor landing. Annabeth wasn’t sure what to say, but Percy had it covered. “I met Hazel when I was in fifth grade. She was in third. She was always tiny for her age, ridiculously shy back then. Kids picked on her because… well, for a stupid reason, although I guess bullies never have good ones. 

“My mom was working for her family, keeping house, making meals, that kind of thing. She convinced them to let me come over after school and use their pool. I was into competitive swimming even then, but in the club off season we couldn’t afford a membership for me to access a pool to practice, so it was a pretty big deal for us. I probably wouldn’t be half the swimmer I am now if I hadn’t been able to practice then.

“Hazel would sneak in to watch me,” he explained, both his voice and face full of pure, unadulterated love, “but she’d run off when I was finishing up so I couldn’t talk to her. It went on like that for probably six months, but I didn’t mind. She was a cute kid, still is, the kind of person you just instinctively want to protect. Finally, and I still don’t know what changed, she decided not to run off. I got out of the pool, went over, and we started talking. I don’t even remember what that first conversation was about now.”

The story had been offered up so willingly it disarmed Annabeth. It told her he wanted to share, for her to know at least some small, personal detail about him. His choosing to share about his relationship with Hazel felt especially satisfying for Annabeth, too. She’d been very curious about it.

“Does she remember?” Annabeth asked with a laugh.

Percy shook his head. “I asked her a while ago, but she doesn’t have a clue, either. She says it was probably something stupid, about the weather or how muggy the pool room always was.”

“She really adores you. I’ve known her for less than a week and I can tell that much.”

“I’m still not sure why, but I don’t complain,” Percy said with a shrug, though the way he grinned told Annabeth he liked being the object of Hazel’s adoration very much. “The feeling is mutual. I would go to the ends of the Earth for her.”

“But not let her drive your car,” Annabeth observed.

“Hey now,” he replied in a playfully defensive tone, “Bessie is a classic! And Hazel, for all her truly amazing qualities, is a really fucking terrible driver. It’s a miracle we didn’t die last night.”

Annabeth couldn’t help laughing again, a bright and genuine giggly sound that she hadn’t realized she was still capable of. “Bessie! That is an absolutely terrible name for a car. Just ridiculous.”

Percy’s smile continued to grow. “If you saw her, you’d get it. She’s just a Bessie.”

They’d reached the lobby, though Annabeth had no idea how long they’d just been standing there. Her heart fell with the realization, her smile fading a little. “I’ll have to take your word for it,” she said, feeling a pang of longing as she glanced at the door. Back up at her apartment’s door she’d hesitated just to walk him this far, now she was considering whether she’d be able to handle the cold just to steal a couple more minutes.

“I guess this is where I say I’ll see you Monday,” he said, just as much disappointment in his voice as Annabeth felt herself.

“We keep saying that, but it doesn’t seem to stick,” Annabeth agreed. Though, she noted, the reason it wasn’t sticking was because Percy kept showing up at her door. On purpose.

“Probably will this time.” Percy’s brow furrowed at the thought, and Annabeth wondered if he was trying to think of some excuse he might be able to use tomorrow to keep their streak alive. Annabeth had to admit she was doing the same, but nothing was coming to mind that wouldn’t be painfully obvious.

“Probably,” she finally conceded.

“Unless…” Percy started, looking at her, those stunning green eyes sweet and tentative. That one word felt more powerful than it had a right to be. “Unless we just planned on getting coffee or something tomorrow?”

The question hung heavily in the air between them. Fear seized her. Every instinct she’d fostered for almost five whole years told her to cut tail and run. Shut him down. Drop his class. Run away and stay away. That look in his eyes, though, felt impossible to deny, and the idea of running made her heart ache.

_You’d probably have fun. It might even be great._

Annabeth really needed to figure out how to keep Piper’s dumb, convincing voice out of her head.

“I have time for coffee tomorrow.”


	12. Chapter 12

For all the times Piper had wished Annabeth would embrace whatever was going on with Percy Jackson over the last week, she really wished this one time her best friend had decided to resist.

Jason stood at the door with a pizza box in his hands, looking at it like it might bite him. The expression on his face was something she had never seen and it unsettled her, made her wonder if maybe she should have held Annabeth back for reasons other than her own selfish desire not to be alone through her first fight with Jason. Thinking about it now, it was possible her anger and natural dislike of Reyna had blinded her to a very serious issue – the reason Reyna had so eagerly punched Percy in the face.

“I’m sorry for ignoring your texts,” Piper finally said, turning her gaze down to where her hands were gripping her phone in her lap. If she didn’t just get on with it, she’d lose herself in worrying about Annabeth and avoid the discussion with Jason altogether. “It was immature of me, but I was… I am… confused about everything that happened last night, to say the least.”

“I’m not mad. I get it,” Jason replied. “Kind of.” He walked into the kitchen and set the pizza box on the counter, gave it a final, distasteful look, and came to sit with Piper on the couch. The position he chose kept a comfortable gap between them, giving her space while still settling himself within reach of her.

Piper had difficulty meeting his eye, opting instead to focus on anything else – her hands, the blanket laid across the back of the couch, a stray streamer she had missed while cleaning. The streamer held her attention, allowing her to focus on frustration at herself for missing it rather than her residual anger at Jason. “In your texts you mentioned the things Reyna said last night weren’t what they sounded like. So, what’s the reality?”

“Reyna’s mom is one of my dad’s lawyers, has been since before even Reyna and Thalia were born,” Jason began, tentatively reaching out his hand to take Piper’s. She didn’t pull away, but she still kept her eyes on that stupid streamer. “It’s like that for most of us. Thalia, me, Frank, Nico, Reyna, we’ve always known each other. In some cases, like Nico, we’ve only become close recently, but we’re as good as family. There are a lot of things we’ve been through that… well, only we really understand.”

Briefly, a few times, Jason had touched on the status of his family. Piper knew the basics from the preliminary internet searches and the social media stalking she had done before their first date. While she had always run with wealthy, elite crowds by way of her own father’s movie star status and the connections she’d made at her preppy, expensive boarding school, Piper knew Jason and the Grace Family were the elite of the elites. The Graces were rich. Old money rich. Kept to themselves and their other old money friends rich.

Families like that, in Piper’s experience, also tended not to be especially pleasant places to grow up. Money had made a mess of her own relationship with her father, and her dad hadn’t even been born into it. Neglectful dads with money to blow had also been what brought Piper and Annabeth together. It only made sense that Jason had his own hobbled together family, bonded over the messed up things they’d experienced. That much Piper could certainly understand.

“That doesn’t exactly explain what she said,” Piper replied, the courage to look Jason in the eye finally coming to her thanks to a surge of frustration. “It only just _maybe_ excuses why you’d invite an ex-girlfriend to a party you’re throwing with your new girlfriend, although not at least warning me ahead of time was a jerk move.”

Jason’s lips twitched with the hint of a smile. Usually it made her angry when he did that because it was so stupidly sexy. Now it made her angry because he shouldn’t be amused by her pain. “First things first, Reyna isn’t an ex-girlfriend.”

“Just a girl you’ve kissed and seen naked,” Piper injected, her voice bitter and sharp.

His smile grew, and it was all she could do not to slap his hand away and storm out of the room. “When I was twelve,” Jason began, his amusement barely contained, “I had a massive crush on Reyna. She was seventeen, always around, hanging out with Thalia, staying with us when her mom was out of town on business, and sometimes even when she wasn’t. I followed them around like a lost puppy and they tolerated me because I probably seemed like the most pitiful twelve year old boy in the world. I kind of was.

“One night, the three of us were sitting around watching movies. I was sitting next to Reyna, feeling all giddy and impulsive in the way only a tween with a massive crush on an older girl can. I still don’t know for sure what came over me, and in hindsight it was the most mortifying experience of my life – which is exactly the reason Reyna always brings it up at the first opportunity – but I kissed her. It was a stupid, awkward, sloppy peck on the lips, then Thalia screamed and I don’t remember very clearly exactly what happened next.”

Piper stared at him, his smile no longer seeming so cruel. The story was embarrassing for him, which would explain both why someone would want to bring it up (teasing Jason about everything possible seemed to be a universally enjoyable pastime) and why Jason would have tried to avoid bringing it up himself. Still, it didn’t completely absolve him. Questions remained, primarily when and how they’d seen each other naked. She opened her mouth to speak, but Jason cut her off.

“What I didn’t realize at the time, was that Reyna didn’t just spend so much time at our place because of our parents, and she wasn’t just hanging out with Thalia,” he continued, the amusement in his eyes completely self deprecating. Jason said the memory was mortifying, but he seemed to find it equal parts hilarious in hindsight. That was why teasing him was so much fun, he was always such a good sport about it. “Reyna and Thalia were dating. They kept it a secret, and they hid it really well. That might have been why they let me follow them around so much. It was less suspicious if they were letting a little dork trail after them all the time.”

A mildly unhinged laugh escaped Piper’s lips as relief washed over her, her hand clapping over her mouth a second later. She couldn’t help smiling, though, flashing back to how Thalia had awkwardly excused herself when Reyna had brought up the story of Jason’s kiss. “Reyna and… Thalia,” she repeated. “Not you.”

“No,” Jason agreed, his smile wide and relieved in response to Piper’s laugh. “They’ve been on and off again a few times over the years, because they’re both pretty strong willed and wild, but they always seem to find their way back to each other. It’s been a few years this time, though, and aside from the _first_ time their break ups have never lasted very long.”

“You kissed your sister’s girlfriend,” Piper repeated, unable to resist the urge to tease him about it already, in the safe light of the truth. She really wished he had told her all of this _before_ meeting Reyna, but now that Piper knew what had really happened she couldn’t fault the logic of lording it over him at every opportunity. “And the bit about seeing each other naked?” she asked, still curious but suddenly very less worried about the answer. All her jealousy had melted away.

Jason sighed heavily and reached for his back pocket. “Thalia told me I’d screwed up and had to bring this to explain, both as proof and punishment for my own idiocy,” he told Piper, and he handed her an old photograph.

Despite the fact that it had to be close to twenty years old, she recognized all three of them immediately. Jason sat in the middle of a large, bubble filled tub, two years old at most. The scar on his upper lip was a fresh, red wound. Thalia sat to his left, only really recognizable by her bright blue eyes – her hair was long and stringy, unnatural on her even as a seven year old – and she was being splashed by her brother. To Jason’s right, Reyna was laughing, her face filled with mirth, and Piper imagined she was encouraging baby Jason to splash his sister more, egging him on.

“Apparently I went through a phase where the only way the nanny could get me in the bath without me screaming bloody murder was if Thalia was with me, and since Reyna was always there, we’d just take baths all three of us,” he said, exasperated at his own childhood antics. There was a hint of sadness in his voice too, though. Piper almost wanted to ask him about it, but decided to let him keep that sadness to himself until he was ready to share it. “I was a clingy kid.”

He paused for only a second, then continued, “Last night Reyna was hurt to find out I hadn’t mentioned her to you, that’s why she was framing it so poorly, to make me sweat. She’s as much family to me as Thalia is, and more than the rest of my actual siblings.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Piper asked, unable to make sense of his leaving this crucial detail about his life out. Although, she realized, he hadn’t told her about Frank or Nico, either. Jason hadn’t told her much about _anyone_ in his life.

Jason shrugged, though from the look on his face she could tell he felt guilty for it. “There just never seemed like a good time to bring it up.”

“There doesn’t need to be a good time to bring up someone you love, Jason,” she told him, trying to be as gentle as possible despite her continued frustration.

It was obvious he knew she was right, because he continued to look contrite. Underneath that expression, though, she could tell he was struggling to find the right words to explain. “My whole life I’ve been surrounded by people who just… know each other,” he started, seeming upset he was having such a hard time expressing himself. “It’s like our families live in this little, exclusive bubble, and even when you don’t want people to know things about you, they do. You’re the first person I’ve ever really cared about who didn’t come from within that bubble, and I _like_ that you’re not from within that bubble, but I guess I’m so used to everyone just knowing everything that I didn’t really know how to say more, or what I should and shouldn’t be saying.”

There was a rawness in his voice and his eyes that made Piper’s heart ache. Jason spoke very little about his family, yes, and even less about the world he’d grown up in. Piper was an outsider. He wanted her anyway, maybe even more because of it, but there were still hurdles they needed to navigate as a result. Mistakes, misunderstandings, were bound to happen.

“I’m still mad at you for leaving without clearing this up first,” Piper began, her eyes once again studying the picture she held, taking in every adorable detail of the precious image, “but this is mine now, and I have half a mind to put it on the fridge for all to see.”

“Please don’t,” he begged, but there was very little conviction in his voice. With a sigh, he leaned forward, laying his forehead on her shoulder before tucking his face into the crook of her neck. His voice was muffled as he continued, “I’m sorry, Pipes. I really am. I freaked when Reyna lost control like that and I just… I didn’t know what to do.”

Piper set the picture aside and wrapped her arms around him, glad to find the brunt of her frustration was finally spent. She still wasn’t sure how she felt about Reyna, but having better context for their relationship made Piper much more receptive to understanding Jason’s distress and poor judgment the night before. She couldn’t entirely even call it _poor_ judgment anymore, either. His family had needed him, he’d been between a rock and hard place. Her arms tightened around him as forgiveness fully flooded her heart.

“Do you know what happened last night?” she asked gently, turning her face to press a kiss to the side of his head. “You seemed… upset… to see Percy just now.”

Seconds ticked by and Jason didn’t say anything, making Piper worry she had said the wrong thing or was asking something she didn’t have a right to, but eventually he sat up again, taking her hands. “I do know what happened, and you’re right. I’m not very happy Annabeth followed him out, but… well, I didn’t really have a right to stop her and I’m not even entirely sure there was a reason to. Like I said in my texts, it’s complicated.”

“But you still wanted to,” Piper observed, acid bubbling in her stomach as concern built for her best friend. Plenty of time had passed to reach the lobby and make it back. The elevator rarely took more than a couple minutes, even for a round trip.

Jason nodded. “I mentioned before that a friend of mine knew him when they were young. That friend was Nico. Like I said before, his dad works for mine – well, more like _with_ than _for_ , but my dad thinks everyone works for him – so we’ve always kind of existed in the same sphere. We only got to know each other when we were both teenagers, and even then it took a while for us to get close. Reyna, though, she spent almost as much time with the di Angelos growing up as she spent with us. I hadn’t really thought about it, but that meant… she knew Percy, too.”

“Something happened when they were young,” Piper concluded, and her throat began to constrict.

Her mind instantly went to the mid-August day when Annabeth had arrived on Piper’s doorstep in Malibu. Annabeth had never confirmed it, never shared a single detail of why she’d been so distraught that summer, or why in the following months and years she’d become so actively against even the suggestion of dating someone, but Piper had her suspicions. Someone had hurt Annabeth that summer, deeply, in ways Piper could only imagine and often didn’t want to. If she had unknowingly pushed her best friend toward another dangerous relationship, she would never be able to forgive herself.

“Nico never told me,” Jason explained, his beautiful, calm features contorting with a heartbreaking blend of anger and sadness. “The few times he’d talked about Percy… the _way_ he talked about Percy... I never would have made the connection on my own. Maybe that was the way Nico wanted it.”

Piper squeezed Jason’s hands and looked at him directly. “If this is something too personal for your family, you don’t have to tell me. I’ll take your word for it and won’t push you to say anything else.” Despite all her concern for Annabeth, she understood if he needed to hold back. They had, after all, only been dating a few weeks.

He shook his head and squeezed her hands in return. “Nico and Hazel – you probably saw Hazel at the party last night, but I didn’t get to introduce you – they used to have an older sister,” Jason explained, his gaze falling to their joined hands. “Bianca. Percy Jackson is the reason she’s dead.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhhh! i have a feeling many of you are about to holler at me for this cliffhanger, but! this chapter comes along with a companion piece of sorts that will give you a little extra insight into what happened and also into reyna, who will become a little more important to the story (much) later on! i'll probably be releasing a few similar pieces about some of the other side(ish) characters along the way too. for now you can check out [my vintage love](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24551368) if you're interested.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you might notice i added a couple warning tags to the fic before posting this to kind of signal the heavier themes that will be touched on in this series.
> 
> this chapter specifically deals with annabeth's past and experience being groomed. i want to give this warning in the beginning in case that's something that might be triggering or uncomfortable for any readers. it is, however, not heavily explicit. i do think, with just knowing that context alone, you'd be able to skip this chapter and continue on reading subsequent chapters without missing much.
> 
> and while you're here again, pls don't forget to drop by the [BLM](https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/) carrd to see if there are any petitions you potentially haven't signed and check out the other things you can do to support the cause even if you can't donate or get out to protest yourself!
> 
> ok bye!

Annabeth Chase was eleven years old when she met Luke Castellan. 

Luke was already eighteen then, a freshman in her father’s department at Stanford. Fredrick Chase, as department head, invited all freshman to his home for a special dinner at some point over the course of the year to get to know them and welcome them into the program. Annabeth was used to college kids coming and going. She rarely paid attention to or even wanted to talk to them. They were stuffy and boring and she hated that her dad cared more about them than about her. That changed when she met Luke.

It would be a year before Annabeth was sent away to boarding school and would meet Piper McLean. She’d not yet become desensitized to the pull of a handsome face and a cunning smile. She was eleven. 

He was charming and kinder to her than any of the other students that frequented the Chase residence. While he wasn’t particularly interested in her, not any more than he was Annabeth’s twin half-brother’s Matthew and Bobby, at least, he would smile when he saw her and occasionally ask her how her day had been. Her crush was almost instantaneous.

The crush in and of itself was inevitable. Annabeth had only just started noticing boys, and with so many college aged kids orbiting her via her father, it was only a matter of time before one of them became the object of an adolescent fixation. If it had ended there, just a pre-teen girl pining after some handsome, distinguished young adult, the memory would have been fond, a little embarrassing, and completely common. It hadn’t ended there, though.

For several years Annabeth’s crush remained safely in the realm of innocent infatuation and admiration. After his sophomore year, the summer Annabeth turned thirteen, Luke started staying with the Chase family when school was out of session so he could help Fredrick with various research projects. He’d become Dr. Chase’s star pupil quickly, and since Luke’s family didn’t have much money and lived all the way across the country, he was all but adopted into the Chase family.

She remained, much to her enamored heart’s chagrin, all but invisible to Luke, but in those fleeting summer months she spent at home he remained all she could see. Even as Piper started dating boys at school, Annabeth took no interest. None of the immature troublemakers her own age held a candle to her larger than life ideal. Having a birthday in summer meant Annabeth always started the school year older than most of her peers. She told herself this was why she found the boys around her so childish. She didn’t consider Piper also had a birthday in the summer and had no such problems.

When Piper would ask her why, though, Annabeth would make some excuse about boys being annoying or gross in general. She never mentioned the handsome, charming young man who studied under her father and the massive crush she’d had on him more or less since the day she’d met him. Because Tristan McLean hated Fredrick Chase, Piper never came to San Francisco to have opportunity to meet him, either.

Later Annabeth would discover Piper had thought Annabeth’s aversion to boys meant she was actually interested in girls, just afraid to come out. Later Annabeth would wish Piper hadn’t been so wrong.

Annabeth was seventeen the summer before her junior year of high school. At that point seeing Luke was the only reason she tolerated coming home for the summers. Even then she’d usually end up heading to Malibu halfway through the summer for Piper’s birthday and to spend the rest of vacation there. Her dad often forgot she was even home. Her step-mom hated her and made that much clear. Her half-brothers were annoying, spoiled with love from both parents and therefore also infuriating to be around. Annabeth suffered through it, though, if only because she got to see _him_.

That was the summer Annabeth stopped being invisible.

He no longer lived with them during summers, having finished his bachelor’s degree, started working on his master’s and gotten his own apartment, but he was still there almost constantly. He’d eat meals with them, stay late into the night. Annabeth saw Luke just about every day.

Nothing about her behavior changed. She wore the same clothes around him, never tried particularly hard to show off or get his attention, didn’t even feign interest in the work he was doing with her father. She stared at him a lot, but she always had. That wasn’t new.

She had changed physically over the year, though. Her body had begun to fill out, her curves becoming more defined. A small growth spurt during the school year had added an inch to her height that had gone almost exclusively to her legs. Annabeth still didn’t fully understand the significance of these changes. She knew the obvious things guys noticed, like her breasts and butt (which had gotten stared at by several peers over the course of the previous year), but she failed to understand the power of the more subtle aspects of her body – like the arousing nature of an exposed thigh or how tempting something as mundane as a clavicle could be. She was seventeen, she wasn’t supposed to understand yet.

Luke, however, did understand these things, and before long Annabeth began to notice the way his eyes lingered on her. He started making excuses to leave Fredrick’s office, to poke around other parts of the house or take a break outside while she was lounging in the yard trying to get a tan, just to talk to her. The change exhilarated her. She loved his attention. She’d been waiting years for it.

Still, the summer passed without major incident. Nothing happened beyond a few flirtatious conversations and lingering glances that had made her heart race. Annabeth didn’t tell Piper about any of it.

She’d only been back at school a week before Luke’s first letter arrived. It was the most romantic thing she’d ever seen. In the age of e-mails and texts, Luke had sent her a _handwritten letter_. He’d been thinking about her and missed her. He’d seen a passage about Roman revival architecture in the South during the Civil War while working on some research and thought Annabeth would enjoy it. He hoped she was enjoying school. 

Immediately she wrote him back and then she hid his letter in her things, only taking it out when she knew Piper wouldn’t discover her rereading it.

Letters continued to stream in. He sent her copies and scans of things he thought she’d like from the books he read. Not everything was about history or architecture. Sometimes he’d send a poem, or an especially beautiful passage of prose. Every letter was more perfect than the last and even without seeing him, Annabeth’s childish crush blossomed into something deep and passionate.

It didn’t bother her when he’d hint at keeping their letters a secret or ask her not to show them to any of her friends at school. She didn’t want to share them. She liked having this secret romance. As much as she loved Piper, she doubted her best friend, who had a new boyfriend at least once a semester, could ever understand the depth of her feelings for Luke.

By the time she returned home the next summer, Annabeth thought she was madly in love. Daydreams of spending her life with this handsome, accomplished, older academic filled her days. Sure, it was annoying that she’d fallen for someone her dad was so fond of, but maybe if she married Luke, Fredrick Chase would finally start to care about her too, not see her as an annoying blight on his otherwise perfect family.

Married! Just the thought, crossing her mind late at night as she lay in bed trying to fall asleep, was enough to send her into a fit of giggles.

The first few weeks of that summer, it was more of the same. Stolen, secret conversations, notes passed to her or books left on her desk with passages and pictures marked for her to see and read. She didn’t understand why he wouldn’t dare touch her, but she convinced herself it was only because he felt as shy as she did. They just has to figure out how to transition from text to real life.

He knew exactly what he was doing. She realized that later.

On the mid-July evening she turned eighteen he finally kissed her. While it wasn’t Annabeth’s first kiss – that had been over a late night game of spin the bottle at some stupid party several years before, thanks to one Piper McLean – she cherished it just the same. It was magical, a dream come true, and if there were any doubts in her mind that she loved him, they melted away in the heat of a Californian summer night.

It might have been perfect, and for weeks after she would convince herself with her own internalized lies that it had been, but he didn’t stop at that kiss. She wasn’t ready, but she was scared he wouldn’t want her anymore if she told him no, and he played into her fears by hinting that he could only be happy if he had all of her. She gave in to his pressure.

Annabeth had imagined her first time would be sweet and romantic, an experience of pure love and pleasure like in the romance novels she secretly stole from Piper, but it was nothing like that. Losing her virginity was quick, awkward and painful, and Luke had to run right back out to Annabeth’s birthday party when they were finished, before anyone could notice them both missing. She’d felt dirty and empty after, unable to enjoy the rest of her own party.

Summer weeks passed by in somewhat of a blur. Almost every day Luke would sneak her away and she would give in to him again. Annabeth always wanted more of his time and she didn’t see why they had to keep hiding, but he convinced her that her father wouldn’t understand if they were caught. He would separate them because he wouldn’t see how mature Annabeth had become, how in love they were. She ate up his excuses like the naive little girl she was, even as every time he left her up in her room she felt more lonely than the time before.

She told herself things would get better with time. She’d become more comfortable with sex even just in those few weeks. Already it had stopped being painful, though it remained generally uncomfortable to her. He seemed to enjoy it, at least. Soon enough they’d be free to love each other openly, after she finished high school and became a proper adult. Before long, Annabeth would have everything she’d ever dreamed of. Yes, things would definitely get better then.

Luke didn’t come over for work one Saturday in mid-August, which wasn’t uncommon. Annabeth kept herself busy, but in the early afternoon her father surprised her by knocking on her bedroom door and asking if she’d like to come to a dinner for his department staff that evening.

Fredrick Chase was still holding out hope his daughter might decide to follow in his footsteps and study history. For a time Annabeth had considered it. History was interesting enough, and if she studied it she knew he would be pleased, maybe even start to _like_ her. Pleasing him was still something she secretly sought to do, even after years of being ignored, belittled, and shipped off for the majority of the year. Even if she didn’t choose to study what he wanted, though, a little networking never hurt anyone. It was the most he’d ever cared about her in her life. She knew Luke would be there, too, so of course she said yes without hesitation.

When she thought about it later, she realized Luke didn’t know _she_ would be there, though. Annabeth had never been invited to one of their department dinners before. In the millions of times she would replay the events in her mind, she’d image what he would have done if he’d known. Maybe he wouldn’t have gone at all – or maybe he just wouldn’t have brought his fiance along.

Annabeth never could remember much about that dinner. She was sure she talked to some of her father’s co-workers, but which ones and what they said were lost in the complete illness she felt every time she glanced down the table and saw Luke smiling, laughing, beside the young woman he was apparently planning to spend the rest of his life with. The young woman who was not her. Even then the reality set in quickly. She’d been used.

Piper’s birthday was only a few days away, and though Annabeth had not initially been planning to make the trip to Malibu that summer, convincing her dad to let her go at the last minute was easy enough. Luke never spoke to her again, never tried to explain himself. Annabeth understood at least that much, as there was nothing he could have said or explained that would have been sufficient. No more letters came. It was as if he had decided the whole year leading up to that single dinner had never happened.

A part of Annabeth broke that summer. She was never quite the same again.

Piper knew something had happened. They had several small arguments about it over the course of that final year of high school, but Annabeth won every single time. She never told her best friend what had happened, she never told anyone. She buried the story as deeply in her psyche as she could, locked it away and threw out the key. As soon as she and Piper graduated, they went straight to New York to find their apartment and get ready for their freshman year of college and Annabeth swore she would never return to that house in San Francisco again.

In the years that followed, Annabeth would consider finally sharing her story a few times. Her stomach would roil at the thought, though, and she would chicken out. It was easier to hide from it. Hiding from it was comfortable. She could often forget about it, sometimes going months without a thought crossing her mind. Only when Piper would try to convince her to go out on a date – “There’s the cutest guy in my department. You’d totally get along,” or “You know that barista hasn’t been able to keep his eyes off you since we walked in,” or “It’s Valentine’s day! Let me set you up just this once,” – would Annabeth wonder if telling might actually make her life easier. Even then, though, she would bury it back down and forget instead of facing her own feelings.

Until a pair of sea green eyes. Until a heart melting smile. Until a short, sweet conversation as she walked down the stairs to her apartment lobby. Until an invitation to coffee she couldn’t have refused even if she’d wanted to.

Annabeth Chase was twenty-two years old when she met Percy Jackson.


	14. Chapter 14

Piper had a lot of questions, but before she could ask Jason for any more details Annabeth finally returned from walking Percy out. She looked at them warily, but noting they were holding hands asked, “Are you two okay, then?”

“Yeah,” Piper said quickly, flashing Jason a look that said _later_. Her mind was running a million miles a second, but she didn’t want to let Annabeth know anything had changed until the moment was right.

Annabeth nodded and smiled, a slow and shy smile unlike any Piper had ever witnessed, starting toward the kitchen. “Do you want any pizza?”

“Uh, what kind is it?”

Despite the troubled expression he still wore, Jason didn’t say anything. Piper figured she could drag him into her room to talk more and Annabeth wouldn’t think twice about it. She was also worried about Annabeth, though. As many questions as she had for Jason, which was a lot, she had just as many for her best friend.

“Half veggie combo, half extra olives,” Annabeth replied, her voice light and amused. She hadn’t looked in the box yet, but she sounded confident. Maybe the pizza was what they’d talked about on the way to the lobby. Pizza was a nice, safe, neutral topic, so that would make sense, but pizza was not something that would make Annabeth’s usually intense gray eyed gaze become nothing short of dreamy.

Jason got to his feet and took a deep breath. “I should probably go now. I’ve got some things to do, errands, homework.” He turned to Piper, who stood to see him out. She wasn’t excited to see him go so soon, and she really did want to ask him for more details about the bomb he’d just dropped, but she understood and knew he probably didn’t want to stick around to hear about Percy. “I’ll text you when I get home.”

“Be safe,” she said, a pout pulling on her bottom lip as she slipped her arms around his waist. He kissed it away, his lips hungry as he poured the sincerity of his earlier apology into a few, sweet seconds of physical contact. Piper was smiling when he pulled away.

Annabeth was on her second slice by the time Jason left and Piper joined her in the kitchen. “You were right about the pizza,” Piper observed, picking up a slice of the veggie combo and taking the biggest bite she could muster. She was no longer sure about Percy Jackson, but bringing her pizza was at least a surefire way to earn some brownie points.

“He memorized our order,” Annabeth replied. Her voice was wistful and she looked at the pizza like it was the most amazing thing she’d ever seen. Piper had the distinct feeling Annabeth was actually thinking _Percy_ was the most amazing thing she’d ever seen. The drastic, intense change was as frightening as it was inexplicable.

Whatever the story behind Jason’s revelation was, one thing was certain – Piper had spent too much time trying to get her best friend going for that train to stop now. They were heading full steam ahead into what would either be a disaster or a dream come true.

“So,” Piper began carefully, “how much do you know about him?”

Piper expected Annabeth to cut the conversation short, refuse to speak of it, but she shrugged and answered, “Not much, but… enough.”

“Enough to..?” Piper prodded. This was thin ice. If Piper took a single misstep she’d break through and sink to the death of this conversation and possibly whatever was making Annabeth so delighted.

“Enough to agree to meet him for coffee tomorrow,” Annabeth answered, acting completely indifferent to the biggest bomb she’d ever dropped. People really needed to stop flipping Piper’s world upside down like it was no big deal.

“Shut up,” Piper replied, dropping her pizza to the counter and momentarily forgetting all her concerns. She gave Annabeth a shove, laughing. “You shut your fucking mouth!”

“It’s just coffee,” Annabeth insisted, though she was smiling a little wider. For anyone else, that might be true, but Annabeth hadn’t allowed Piper to even suggest as much in over four years. For Annabeth, coffee was huge. If she was agreeing to coffee, it meant she was farther gone than Piper had anticipated. Piper couldn’t believe her best friend had made so much progress in just a week.

On the other hand, maybe she could.

For years Annabeth had shown no interest in guys. She hadn’t cared about going to dances solo, even when Piper began having dates to them. At one point Piper started to suspect Annabeth might actually be into girls and had subtly dropped hints trying to get Annabeth to tell her by pointing out the especially pretty girl in their English class or the cute freshman who was making waves on the soccer team, but that had turned out not to be the case. Then, out of nowhere, Annabeth had turned completely jaded and even playful insistence she just _try_ asking out the new kid at school or that really cute waiter became unacceptable. Well, not out of nowhere.

Piper had never considered it, but maybe Annabeth had gotten hurt so badly that summer because she was too impulsive when it came to love, too quick to fall. There had been no warning she was interested in anyone, yet after just a month and a half of summer she’d ended up completely heartbroken. If that was the case, she wasn’t sure she could endorse diving in blind. God, she couldn’t believe she’d never even considered that possibility. Annabeth was always so cautious, so careful, it was impossible to even imagine she might not be that way when it came to love.

“Are we going to… finally have that conversation?” Piper asked, trying not to sound panicked about the worries beginning to run rampant in her mind.

Annabeth stiffened, the smile she’d been wearing since she walked back into the apartment disappearing. Piper prepared herself to be shut down again. It was her fault for bringing it up so soon when she’d been told no already the night before. But then, just as quickly as it had developed, the tension in Annabeth’s shoulders melted and she gave an entirely surprising answer, “Not today, but… yeah. We will soon. I just need a little more time.”

“You… you’re serious about this, aren’t you?” Piper asked, her voice barely above a whisper. “About him.”

For a minute Annabeth just picked at her pizza, popping a couple olives in her mouth and chewing them contemplatively. Piper had always thought Annabeth’s favorite pizza order was a little gross. She liked olives well enough, but only when she was in the right mood for them. Often she just picked them off of her combo slices and gave them to Annabeth. 

“I’m not sure,” Annabeth finally answered. “He’s just… weird, but a good weird. Sometimes I feel like I don’t understand him at all, but then other times… I know you said he was interested in me before, but the way he’d look at me in class, it didn’t feel that way at all. He’d been so easy going with everyone else. I really thought he disliked me, but I was completely off the mark. On the way down to the lobby he told me about his friend Hazel and…” She paused, a dozen different emotions playing across her face, then she laughed brightly. “I don’t even know how to explain it, Piper. I really don’t.”

Hazel. Nico’s sister. Bianca’s sister. Piper hadn’t thought about what Annabeth had told her about Hazel and Percy, how close they seemed. If Percy had been involved in Bianca’s death, Piper wondered what would have kept her sister so close to him, and if he could really be so bad when Hazel seemed to have forgiven him for his involvement so completely. It was easy, Piper knew, for grief to convolute situations. Jason had also mentioned Nico had never spoken poorly of Percy before. Maybe Reyna just handled her grief differently, poured it into hating Percy instead of being angry at a situation she was helpless to change.

“There’s something you should know,” Piper said, deciding to share what little she knew with her best friend. It was better than keeping her worries locked up indefinitely, and she knew Annabeth would want to have all the information available to her.

Annabeth clearly didn’t like Piper’s tone, because her brow furrowed and her gray eyes began to churn with storm clouds, all remaining dreaminess fading. “Is it about what happened last night with Reyna?”

Piper nodded. She chose her words carefully, trying not to sound too critical. “Jason didn’t tell me everything, and I’m trying not to pass judgment before I know the whole story, but apparently… apparently Hazel and Nico used to have another sister, one who passed away, and Percy was somehow involved in her death. Reyna is close to them, was back then, and…”

“And still holds whatever happened against Percy,” Annabeth concluded, no nonsense, huffing a little sigh.

Another nod from Piper. “For all I know, it was some kind of accident, and that’s probably the case, but the way Jason acted about it was concerning, to say the least. He said he wished he could have stopped you from going down.”

Annabeth stood in silent contemplation and Piper let her. There were so many new emotions at play, so many unknowns. Piper wasn’t used to _not knowing_ when it came to Annabeth. It was hard for Piper to read her best friend’s expression, but she at least knew Annabeth was weighing the information seriously. Her voice quiet and contemplative, Annabeth finally replied, “We all have things in our pasts we aren’t proud of, stupid mistakes we wish we could take back.”

For the millionth time, even just that day it felt like, Piper found herself wondering what happened to Annabeth that summer before their senior year. Many times – when she’d noticed Annabeth had been crying alone, when Annabeth had refused to go out with even the most obviously decent guys, when Annabeth put up her walls and blocked Piper out – Piper had wished she could hunt down the jerk who’d caused all of it and give him a good punch to the face. It would feel pretty damn good.

The thought made Piper laugh unconsciously. When Annabeth looked at her with confusion, Piper explained, “I just had a thought that kind of made me understand Reyna a little.” She couldn’t blame the other woman for reacting violently, not when Piper herself would gladly punch just about anyone on the planet for Annabeth, whether that person had hurt Annabeth intentionally or not.

“Reyna?” Annabeth asked, her eyebrows raised. “You don’t absolutely hate her anymore?”

“No,” Piper confirmed, and she finally took the time to explain everything else Jason had cleared up. Telling the story made her feel even more ridiculous for having gotten so upset. The whole thing really had been a massive misunderstanding. If she’d responded to Jason’s texts when she first got them, she might have been spared an entire morning of grumpiness.

Annabeth listened with the same unflinching focus she always afforded Piper. No matter how long Piper spoke, how boring the topic, Annabeth listened to every word as if it were the most fascinating thing she’d ever heard, absorbed the information and cataloged each detail in her memory. Even before they’d gotten close, in those first awkward months they roomed together in sixth grade, Annabeth would treat every word Piper spoke as something precious. She supposed that was one of the reasons she’d been drawn to Annabeth even when they weren’t sure of each other. At that point it had been a long time since anyone had thought anything Piper had to say was worth listening to.

“Your boyfriend is a massive doofus,” Annabeth said when the story was done, smiling and shaking her head. There was relief in her expression, though, and Piper realized Annabeth liked Jason a lot more than she’d originally thought. The guys Piper had brought around and dated had only ever, at best, been tolerated by Annabeth. Jason being _liked_ was yet another way he stood out from the crowd.

“I agree,” Piper laughed, “but I’ll keep him around for now.”

For a second Piper thought Annabeth was going to say something else about it, or maybe circle back around to the issue of Percy and their plans for the next day, but then she clapped her hands and declared, “I need a beer!”

It had been a long time since they’d wasted an afternoon getting drunk and being stupid, just the two of them, but for Piper it was a much needed change of pace. A lightness had returned to Annabeth, and maybe it was precarious, maybe it wouldn’t last, but Piper couldn’t help but enjoy the return of the best friend she had known _before_. She knew they still had trials ahead of them, but that afternoon she decided to leave worrying about them for another day.

The forgotten streamer she’d noticed earlier in the day returned to being forgotten. It would be almost two weeks before Annabeth finally saw it and screamed in outrage. That night it would no longer be just the two of them in the apartment, and the entire room would be filled with resulting laughter as Annabeth hurled a notebook across the living room at Piper. Jason would be the one to finally snatch it from its hiding place, shaking his head fondly at both of them. By then the world as Piper had come to know it would have begun to shift on its axis toward something entirely new and more wonderful than she could have imagined.

 _Full steam ahead_ , Piper thought, as she and Annabeth both popped the caps off their beers and bottles clanked together in a silent toast. _Full steam ahead._


	15. Chapter 15

Annabeth considered canceling her plans with Percy at least ten times. It very well might have happened, had she not realized right before going to bed Saturday night that they’d never exchanged phone numbers. She couldn’t stand him up, considering on top of it just being plain rude she would have to see him in class the next day. So, at exactly ten on Sunday morning she arrived at the small cafe a couple blocks from campus they had agreed would be their meeting place the afternoon before.

There’d been a couple reasons she’d thought about canceling. The most prominent reason was, of course, her debilitating fear of even the possibility she might open herself up to someone again. Piper’s news from Jason made her hesitate as well, though. 

It was hard for her to believe Percy would ever hurt anyone on purpose. Even when she’d been a bit of a jerk, he hadn’t been cruel to her in return and he’d certainly had opportunity to be. When he’d spoken to her about Hazel he’d been so tender, his voice full of love she had the distinct feeling was completely unconditional. Their class was admittedly small, but he’d learned everyone’s names after just their first lesson, which was a level of care she had rarely seen from professors or TAs since starting college. There was a sincerity about him, and though she couldn’t quite put her finger on why she felt it so strongly, she was confident on that point.

Her instincts had been wrong before, though. She liked to think she had become better at reading people in recent years, but it was hard for her to be sure. The logical part of her mind told her the only way to know for sure was to learn more about him, to talk to him, but the evening before the logical part of her had been inebriated. She’d been more than a little drunk and Annabeth could be a horribly woeful, pessimistic drunk. Piper called her a “weepy,” drunk. Annabeth just called it depressed.

In the light of morning, her head clear (if not a little achy), she was glad she hadn’t been able to cancel. More than scared, she was excited. The few minutes she’d spent talking to him the day before had been enjoyable. Annabeth had liked the way his voice sounded, full of fondness for Hazel. She’d liked the intent way he listened to her. Those few minutes after the party had been surprisingly fun, too. If she were to be honest with herself, she’d even enjoyed the confusing conversation they’d had Friday after class. And if it weren’t for her pride, she might even have been able to admit the very first conversation, when she’d made an absolute fool of herself over _pizza_ , had been, at the very least, engaging and memorable.

Piper had insisted on choosing her outfit, and while the clothes – a high waisted denim skirt, creamy white turtle neck, and green chunky-knit cardigan, with white thigh high stockings and high heel ankle boots – had all come out of her own closet, Annabeth found herself feeling as awkward and uncomfortable as she used to when Piper would dress her in high school. Probably, Annabeth figured, because most of what she was wearing had been bought by Piper for her to begin with. At least she had been allowed the comfort of pulling her unruly blonde hair back into a simple ponytail instead of trying something more extravagant.

She expected to beat Percy there, but to her surprise he had already arrived, ordered himself a drink, and made himself comfortable at a small table tucked into a cozy back corner. He didn’t notice her at first, so she spent a few seconds just looking at him from the door. 

Brazenly appreciating the sight of him, admitting to herself that she was doing it, felt freeing. His hands were tapping an endless, anxious rhythm on his knees as he stared out the window next to his table. The light through the window made his eyes shine, fascinating in their brightness. Even in the effortless ensemble of a t-shirt and jeans he could have passed for an ancient Greek or Roman god, between the sculpted perfection of his face and the way his clothes clung to his broad frame. Annabeth knew, just looking at him, she teetered precariously on the edge of a cliff. She had half a mind to throw herself off it head first.

Had someone not opened the door behind her, she might have stood there staring longer, but this time when the bell on the door jingled Percy heard it. His gaze turned to her and that deadly smile of his spread across his face in a flash. “Annabeth!” he called, waving in case she hadn’t spotted him yet. 

Annabeth, she noted. Not Chase.

A much smaller, tentative smile pulled at her own lips, and she waved back before pointing toward the counter to signal she was going to make an order first. The minute or two it took to order and pay for her latte macchiato served the critical purpose of helping calm her pounding heart. When she turned toward the table she caught Percy still watching her with that smile of his, unfading, and all her effort became wasted.

“I hope you weren’t waiting long,” Annabeth said when she took her seat, trying to keep her voice level.

“I had to drive Leo to work a couple blocks away, so I figured I might as well get here early,” he shrugged. Annabeth noted that didn’t really say anything about how long he’d been waiting. “You clean up well.”

A pleasant heat rose in her cheeks. “You’re not so bad yourself. Although, I’m not sure you brushed your hair, so I don’t think that quite qualifies as cleaning up.”

“I brushed it,” he objected with the hint of a whine, immediately running his fingers through the mess of black hair on his head. Several exhilarating thoughts thundered in her mind as she watched, each one more shocking and dangerous than the last.

“With your fingers?” she continued to tease, fighting off the growing heat in her face. Between the satisfaction of his compliment and her own mind trying to mutiny, keeping herself from turning as red as a tomato was painfully difficult.

His smile was quick to return. “Fingers count.”

“No, they really don’t.” She couldn’t help laughing at the absurdity, not of what he was saying, but that she found herself even more attracted to him with every ridiculous thing he said.

“This is a clear case of the pot calling the kettle black. I don’t think you even ran your fingers through your hair yesterday,” he retorted easily.

“You,” she said, the heat in her cheeks instantly spreading all the way to her ears despite her best efforts to fight it, “showed up unannounced! I can’t be held accountable for that.”

Percy gave her a small nod acknowledging her point, a twinkle in his eye. “Did your friends work things out?”

One of the baristas brought Annabeth’s coffee over. She paused to say a quick thank you and lifted the mug up to her lips, blowing gently on the hot, frothy contents. It was nice to be able to hide behind the massive cup. “They did. Most of it was a misunderstanding, thankfully.”

“Did he give you any explanation about Reyna?” Percy asked. He reached for his own mug, trying to look and sound casual. Annabeth sensed the nervousness in his voice, though, and his eyes had lost their mirth. Clearly he was worried about what she’d heard, and what impact it might have had on her opinion of him.

“A brief one,” she answered, tiptoeing around the subject as much as she could manage. “He didn’t give us any details, just the… basics.”

Percy tipped his mug to his lips and drained the remaining contents in a single motion. A sigh escaped those lips as his mug clanked back on the table. He steeled himself, lifting his gaze to look Annabeth in the eye as he said, “It was an accident, but I take all the blame. I won’t run from it, or try to hide it, and I don’t hold anything against Reyna for still being angry with me. She… she was there the day it happened. Remembering is especially hard for her.”

Annabeth gripped her coffee mug tight, watching him from over the rim. A hurricane raged behind his eyes, a storm of emotion Annabeth couldn’t begin to understand even with the depth of her own pain. From just that hurt in his eyes she _knew_ whatever had happened, whatever the full story behind Bianca’s death, it was still the greatest regret of his life. He took responsibility for those regrets, though, and on top of it empathized with the suffering they had caused others. That alone, to her, was something more noble than could be put to words. A lesser person would easily try to pass blame wherever they could, to escape guilt at any cost.

Her heart ached to bring his smile back, to ease his suffering for even a short while. The grip on her mug tightened as her fingers itched to reach across the table to touch his hand. The intensity of that impulse was as frightening as it was difficult to resist.

Pressing the topic would have probably been easy enough, though she wasn’t entirely sure Percy would tell her the whole story if she asked. They barely knew each other. Annabeth wasn’t even sure what was happening between them. He owed her nothing, but she felt he also wouldn’t have begrudged her for asking. She didn’t want to ask, though. If whatever had happened with Bianca brought him as much pain as she sensed, it wasn’t something she wanted to push him into telling her about. She wouldn’t want her own story forced out of her, either.

“You told me how you met Hazel,” Annabeth finally said, “but how did you meet Leo?”

The ghost of a smile flickered across his features and Annabeth knew she’d chosen the right topic. 

“Leo Valdez,” he said softly, the same fondness with which he’d spoken about Hazel seeping back into his voice. It was such a sweet sound. Annabeth allowed herself to hope he might eventually speak of her that way – then immediately felt ridiculous for it. “I technically met Leo in high school, but we didn’t run with the same crowds. Usually we only bumped into each other in detention, but that’s not really an atmosphere conducive to making friends.”

“It really isn’t,” Annabeth agreed with a laugh.

Percy raised an eyebrow. “You sound like you’re speaking from experience.”

Annabeth shrugged. “Maybe.”

“I bet you had it once and it was for something like protesting the injustice of not having enough vegetables served in your lunches,” he replied, absolutely skeptical but his eyes shining with amusement.

“It was several times,” she told him, feeling very satisfied he’d gotten it wrong, “and usually it was because I’d mouthed off to our asshole of a French teacher, who hated Piper and me for absolutely no reason. Actually, he probably hated us because by senior year we were both better at French than him.”

Despite the extra information she’d tacked on trying to hide it, he didn’t miss the qualifier she had hoped would go unnoticed. “Usually?”

“One time it was because Piper and I staged a sit in over the lack of decent vegetarian options in our cafeteria,” she had to admit glumly.

The way he threw his head back and laughed left her feeling breathless and she had to bite down on her bottom lip to keep herself from breaking into a wide responding smile. That sound was beautiful. _He_ was beautiful. She’d never been so happy to be out for coffee with someone.

When he’d settled back down, simply chuckling, Annabeth said, “Anyway, you were telling me about Leo?”

“Right,” Percy agreed, taking a deep breath to steady himself. “So, we hardly knew each other, but halfway through freshman year, my mom went into a parent teacher conference and came out with a date. Paul Blofis, my history teacher. Great guy, stupid fucking name. I didn’t know it until they started dating, but Paul was Leo’s foster dad. Fast-forward nine months and suddenly Leo and I are sharing a cramped bedroom in a tiny Manhattan apartment and our parents are tying the knot.”

“He’s your brother.” Annabeth said with a laugh.

“Unfortunately,” Percy replied, though he didn’t actually sound like he thought it was unfortunate at all. “In every legal sense of the word, and just about every other sense, too. You know, he’s not even registered for our morning class, he’s just there to be a pain in my ass?”

“I can’t say I blame him,” she teased. “Being a pain in your ass sounds like it would be a lot of fun.”

“It’s a full time job, but I’m always taking applications,” he said without missing a beat, the tension that had developed in his shoulders now all but released. Annabeth was glad – glad that Percy had addressed the elephant in the room so early and willingly, and glad it hadn’t stalled their conversation in its tracks.

Annabeth finally took a drink of her coffee, discreetly avoiding any unflattering foam mustaches. “I’ll think about getting my resume in order.”

Percy cocked his head to one side. “You strike me as the type whose resume is always in order.”

She took another, long drink before responding, “Guilty as charged.”

“I’ll look forward to seeing it, then.”

“I only said I’d think about it,” she corrected, finally setting her mug down on the table. She tried to sound nonchalant, but the words had an unintentional edge to them. Doubts still plagued her, as much as she was enjoying herself. This was strange new territory, even just considering the possibility of something more than friendship. Although he hadn’t explicitly said he was looking for more than that, the last thing she wanted to do was accidentally lead him on.

Seeming to sense her reservations, Percy leaned back in his chair and nodded. “I don’t mind waiting for you to decide, although I can’t help thinking you’d be a great fit for the job.”

Annabeth wondered how much of the double meaning she inferred was just in her head and how much of it had been fully intentional on his part. “You hardly know me,” she said, clinging to logic even though she knew full well the heart didn’t function on any kind of logic the brain cooked up. “How sure can you be?”

“I know enough,” he said with a confidence that left her breathless.

Her mind flashed back to the afternoon before, when she’d said almost those exact words to Piper. She couldn’t help asking him the same question Piper had asked her. “Enough to what?”

All lighthearted teasing evaporated, leaving nothing but the intense green-eyed gaze that had haunted her since the night they’d met a week before. “Enough to know I’m all in,” he told her. Then, to do away with all pretense, he added, “Enough to know I’d like to take you on a date, not just to coffee.”

The words hit her like a freight train. Annabeth struggled to control her breathing, panic bubbling in her chest. Her eyes fell, focusing on their mugs on the table, unable to meet his gaze, worried it might be too powerful to deny. “I can’t,” she whispered.

This had been a bad idea. She’d known where it was going after his arrival at Piper’s party and his showing up at her door again the next afternoon. His heart fluttering smiles and curious intensity had made her think, for a moment, she was stronger than she really was. Faced with reality, Annabeth felt fear close its bony hands around her heart and squeeze, closing off all logical thoughts that might have told her why she didn’t need to be afraid.

But her mouth seemed to move on its own, despite the fear and her earlier reluctance to lead him on. The part of her that wanted this, that for some reason she couldn’t quite pinpoint wanted him more desperately than was sensible after a few simple conversations, took her over. She heard herself add, “At least not today.”

For a few seconds Percy was silent, and she wished she had the courage to look at him and try to discern what was going through his mind – not that she’d ever been very successful with that in the past. When he finally spoke, his voice was still confident, and the words felt like a soothing balm her soul had desperately needed for as long as she could remember. 

He didn’t ask her why. He didn’t plead for her to change her mind. Percy took a deep breath and with a smile in his voice told her, “Like I said, I don’t mind waiting.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter contains (slightly?) explicit content.

Piper had given up hoping she’d hear from her dad a long time ago. More often than not she learned about what was going on in his life through Twitter or tabloids – which was why she usually avoided those very things as much as possible. She didn’t want to know about him if he wasn’t going to tell her himself.

When Tristan McLean did something really crazy, though, simply avoiding pop culture media wasn’t enough, which was what had happened when Piper rolled over to check her phone first thing Monday morning. She hadn’t even intended to wake up as early as she did, and she sure as hell wished she’d managed to sleep through the morning like usual.

“Fuck,” she mumbled when she saw the number of texts and notifications she’d already received, repeating the word a few more times under her breath until the word melted into nothing but a guttural, growling scream.

Annabeth was already up and eating her usual breakfast of cheerios and banana slices, her swimming class starting in just a little over an hour – seriously, Piper was up _too early_. Too early for life in general, but definitely too early for this shit. As Piper stormed into the kitchen and straight for the fridge to grab and chug a bottle of water, Annabeth watched with silent curiosity. This wasn’t particularly noteworthy behavior, especially in context.

“I take it you saw the news?” Annabeth finally asked between spoonfuls of cereal, once Piper had drained her bottle and crumpled the flimsy plastic in her hand.

“You’d think he’d call, send a text, at least have his personal assistant shoot me a quick e-mail, but no,” Piper complained, continuing to stomp around. She threw her bottle in the recycling bin and began assembling the things she needed to make herself a smoothie. As she continued to rant, it was as much for herself as it was for Annabeth. “Nope. No warning at all! No reason his _daughter_ would need to know he’s getting _married_. And to some little country music diva, of all people! He hates country music. At least he used to. Who the fuck knows anymore. Certainly not me, because I didn’t even know he was getting married. God, do you think she’s pregnant?

“And can you believe they chose _Valentine’s Day_ of all days for the wedding?” Piper continued. She was barely even stopping to breathe as every thought that passed through her mind spilled from her without scruple. “That’s like all of three weeks notice. Imagine asking everyone to give up their Valentine’s Day plans at the last minute to go to your stupid, shotgun wedding – and I’m really just so sure it’s a shotgun wedding. Dad has never wanted to get married. He didn’t marry _my_ mom when _I_ was born, but I don’t know, maybe he’s grown a conscience, or since he’s actually famous now he’s worried it’ll hurt his image if he doesn’t.”

Her breakfast finished, Annabeth stood, put her bowl in the sink, and came over to wrap her arms around Piper’s waist from behind, her chin settling on Piper’s shoulder. Instantly Piper’s rage began to subside.

“Just think about how fun it’ll be to take Jason as your date to the wedding,” Annabeth said soothingly, knowing exactly what Piper needed to hear. “In a full tuxedo, towering over all those Hollywood insider guests, even better looking than all those snooty movie stars your dad will invite for the sake of appearances, even though he hates half of them.”

Piper’s rage continued to ebb. “Could I wear white just to be a jerk?”

“No,” Annabeth said firmly. “You’ll wear something pretty, but not so flashy you steal attention from the bride. Jason’s there to steal attention, instead. They can’t blame you if all eyes are on you because your date is so drop dead gorgeous. They _can_ blame you if you make it obvious by wearing white.”

“I’m going to make dad invite you too,” Piper decided, a tiny smile playing at her lips. Very rarely did Annabeth show her diabolical side, but Piper always felt better when she had that sharp Annabeth Chase wit to help her plot. No way was she going to go to that wedding without her best friend. “And you know, no one would be able to talk about anything else if you brought Percy, with all his national titles and that world record of his.”

“His what?” Annabeth asked, straightening up and stepping back. The fact that Annabeth did not immediately zero in on and object to the suggestion she might take Percy as a date – especially when the wedding was just around the corner – did not go unnoticed by Piper. Interesting.

Piper turned to look at her, laughing. “Annabeth, did you not Google him?”

“No?”

“Oh, you sweet, sweet, naive little girl,” Piper mumbled as she reached up to take Annabeth’s face in her hands. “He’s the national champion and world record holder in the 1500 meter freestyle, plus he won a couple other events, too. They say he’s a shoo in for the Olympic team. One article even called him ‘the next Michael Phelps.’ Really, Annabeth, I thought you of all people would have been on your phone Googling him the second you learned his name.”

When all Annabeth did was stare at Piper, incredulous, she patted her best friend’s cheeks, turned Annabeth around and gave her a few more gentle pats, this time on her cute little ass. “Now, get going, you don’t want to be late for class! Not when you have such a sexy and accomplished teacher.”

“World record?” Annabeth repeated to herself as she followed Piper’s instructions by grabbing her bag and making her way to the door in a daze. At the door she stopped and turned to look at Piper again. “ _Olympic team_?”

“Have fun! Talk shit about my soon to be step-mom if you get the chance!” Piper called, and then Annabeth was out the door and on her way to class.

They hadn’t talked too much about Annabeth’s coffee date (“It wasn’t a date!” Annabeth had said about ten thousand times) with Percy the day before, but Annabeth had shared enough for Piper to know Percy Jackson was intent on making their lives very interesting. She was still withholding judgment about him, and couldn’t shake her concerns about Annabeth’s mysterious past, but for the time being she had decided to encourage seeing where things went. The one thing she was sure about – Annabeth had seemed a little happier the last week, a little more alive and in the moment. If that was Percy Jackson’s doing, Piper owed him a debt.

Though she was doing her best to ignore her phone until she at least had something in her stomach and had the chance to wake up, she didn’t think twice about answering when Jason’s picture and name flashed to alert her to his call. “You okay?” were the first words out of his mouth.

“No,” she admitted with a whine. “I’m furious.”

“You don’t have class for a few hours still, right? Want me to swing by with some breakfast?”

She considered this for a few seconds. “Skip the breakfast, just bring yourself. I’m not in the mood to eat.”

The way he laughed was deep and dangerous. Piper told him to hurry.

Hurry Jason did. He really was unlike any guy she’d ever dated. Piper had only just finished washing up and brushing her teeth when he walked in the front door wearing a grin meant just to improve her mood. “Delivery for Miss McLean,” he greeted her.

His book bag was slung over his shoulder, which told Piper he intended to be there until he left for school – and Jason didn’t have any Monday classes until the afternoon, just like her. Today he’d also decided to wear his glasses, and Piper again cursed herself for how much those stupid little frames affected her. This was absolutely the best way to turn her morning around.

Without saying a word, she grabbed him by the sweater and pulled him toward her into a kiss. His throat rumbled as he met her and they moved as a unit into the apartment. Dropping his bag by the door, he was quick to put his hands on her, his fingers curling into the fabric of her nightshirt.

Piper slid her hands up to his neck as her lips moved against his, fervent and needy, begging him to help her forget while she led him toward the couch. He seemed eager to oblige. The first few times they’d made out he’d been unsure of himself, but none of that hesitation remained. His tongue and teeth teased her with clear intention and without any prompting, doing as he pleased.

Lungs already burning from breathlessness, Piper broke away just so she could push him down onto the couch. Large, strong hands, pulled her down to him and she gladly climbed into his lap. His eyes dark with desire, he leaned up to kiss her again, but Piper pulled her head back, grinning at him. Before he could have any more of her lips, she was going to get that sweater off him.

A sweet shade of pink rose to his cheeks as she pulled at it. It wasn’t the first time she’d stripped him from the waist up and his continued shyness over it only made her enjoy the act more. Each time, as she tossed away his shirts or sweaters, she made a show of raking her eyes over him, drinking in the sight. Her fingers trailed down his chest and abdomen, over skin that burned beneath her touch and over muscles that were so perfectly shaped and defined they should have belonged on a professional athlete and not an econ major.

“If you’re just going to stare, you can take a picture and I can leave,” he teased, his body shuddering as her fingers began their journey back up his abdomen.

“Oh, I’ll happily take a picture,” she replied, finally leaning down to hover with her mouth a breath away from his, “but you’re not going anywhere.”

Their lips met again with a fiery hunger. Jason’s hands rested on Piper’s thighs, his thumbs rubbing gentle circles on them that contrasted infuriatingly with the brutality of his kiss. She wasn’t capable of such restraint, her hands exploring every inch of his exposed skin without a twinge of remorse, mimicking the way her tongue sought every corner of his mouth.

Maddeningly slow, his hands began to slide upward, under her shirt and around to her ass. This was new, and Piper couldn’t help giggling in response, elated. She broke away from him again, only to dip her head to brush her lips against his jaw. Her fingers slipped into his short hair, gripping it as best she could to tilt his head. It wasn’t fair how soft that hair of his was. No amount of conditioner would have made Piper’s so silky. His every detail was the epitome of perfect.

As her mouth moved along his jaw and down his neck, nibbling, sucking and licking as she pleased, eliciting sighs and quiet moans of approval from him that turned her blood to fire in her veins, Jason’s hands began their own exploration. They didn’t stop at her ass, journeying up her back and to her shoulders, lifting her shirt as they went. The touch felt surreal after so many weeks of being denied, and whenever his hands migrated to a new area of her body, the spot he left felt raw and exposed, desperate for his touch to return to it.

Some of the tentativeness that had been his trademark began to return, but he didn’t shy away. Piper’s mouth explored his neck while his hands slipped around and found her chest. As he gave her breasts a preliminary squeeze, she let out a gasp and pressed into the touch. When she glanced up at him, the grin he wore sent a searing heat straight to her core. He was so effortlessly sexy, with those glasses and the scar on his upper lip prominently defined against his flushed skin.

Intent on kissing that grin right off his perfect little face, she pulled him back to her. They moaned softly in unison as his hands toyed with her breasts. Admittedly, he was a little clumsy, but he made up for it tenfold through the pure enthusiasm with which his hands moved. Her nipples were hard and sensitive, sending little shocks of pleasure to her system every time his fingers pinched or pulled curiously at them.

Her hips rolled down against him in an instinctive, desperate motion, and she felt his arousal beneath her, making her head spin with anticipation. She regretted it as soon as she’d done it, though, because he quickly began to pull away, dropping his hands and breaking their kiss, leaving them both hot and breathless.

Piper tried to be patient, supportive, but it was hard to hide her disappointment. Every fiber of her being burned with need for him.

“I’m sorry,” he said, his voice so deep and husky it only worsened her desire.

She ran her hands against his chest while she fought to catch her breath, to bring her thoughts back from the edge. “Help me understand,” she finally mumbled, leaning down to dot his face with kisses. “What am I doing wrong?”

He laughed with disbelief, his hands now safely returned to their usual place on her thighs. “Nothing, absolutely nothing. Everything you do is right.”

“Then why?” she asked, taking his face between her hands.

Jason struggled to find the words to explain himself, but Piper could tell he was trying. If he had one fault, it was that he was terrible at expressing his feelings. His actions spoke volumes, but when it came to putting the way he felt to words, he always fell short. She wasn’t yet sure if it was because he was afraid to be open and honest or if he simply struggled to understand the things he felt himself. Based on what she’d learned about him, it was quite possibly both.

“I’ve just… Pipes, you’re… The last time I had a girlfriend I was in high school,” he explained. When he realized that didn’t explain his issue, he dropped his head back and sighed. “This is new. For me. All of it.”

Piper almost admitted this was new for her, too – everything about this relationship with Jason was new to her, out of her comfort zone, after all – but then the dots began to connect and her eyes went wide. She forced him to look at her and she asked, the corners of her lips beginning to curl into a smile. “Jason Grace, are you a virgin?”

“Yeah?”

A full blown smile formed on her face and three weeks of insecurity and doubts disappeared into thin air. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? Jason…”

“It’s embarrassing.” His lips turned down into a pout, his eyes refusing to meet her gaze despite the fact that she held his face in place.

“You really are the biggest doofus on the planet,” she said gently, finally releasing his face so she could wrap her arms around him and press her own face into his neck. “You have nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“Easy for you to say,” he replied, though his arms wrapped around her as well. They let the minutes tick by, holding each other as they settled both down from the high of making out and into this newly defined parameter of their relationship. Even though he claimed it was embarrassing, she couldn’t help feeling like he seemed a little more relaxed now that he’d shared.

Finally, she pulled back up to look at him, one of her hands coming up to slip her fingers through his hair yet again, though this time with nothing but affection. “Take all the time you need,” she told him, glad to find he was finally willing to look at her properly again.

“I’m not sure I’ll need much more of it,” he said heavily, his eyes dropping down her body, seeming to see every single inch and curve even though her shirt hung loose and baggy on her frame.

She fought back the giddiness he had a gift for inspiring. “I do have one condition, though.”

His eyebrows shot up. “What’s that?”

“You’re going to have to go to a wedding with me,” she told him, letting out an exasperated sigh at even the thought.

Jason’s arms tightened around her, strong and comforting. “You have yourself a deal, Miss McLean. One wedding date, at your service.”


	17. Chapter 17

Annabeth had never felt like more of an idiot in her life.

Well, that was hyperbole, but she sure felt like a Grade A, certifiable, unparalleled dumbass. The thought of Googling Percy had never even crossed her mind. He seemed to exist outside of the real world, in his own little fascinating, enthralling bubble, like a dream. Google wouldn’t know anything about someone like that. Boy, had she been wrong.

On her bus ride to campus, Annabeth was glued to her phone, making up for lost time by pulling up Percy’s page on Wikipedia. He was on _Wikipedia_ , for God’s sake, and it wasn’t just some unfinished stump of an article. There were details, facts about his family, education and swim career. Annabeth was an absolute bonehead.

Piper had been right. The previous summer Percy Jackson had made headlines for shaving two whole seconds off the world record in the 1500 meter freestyle and taking the US National title in the event. Along with his record breaking victory, he’d won the 400 meter individual medley and 800 meter freestyle. Article after article speculated about his participation in the upcoming Olympic Trials, noting he’d never competed on an international stage despite his stellar competitive swimming career on the NYU team and his record breaking debut on the national stage.

Each thing she discovered left Annabeth with a thousand new questions – why he would need to work delivering pizzas when he should have been making money left and right on sponsorships, why he was bothering to TA an intermediate swim class when he probably should have been swimming 24/7 to remain competitive, how he had time to major in _psychology_ when swimming must have taken up so much of his time. Just when she thought she was beginning to put the puzzle that was Percy Jackson together, she had another thousand pieces dumped on her.

She absolutely loved it.

Even worse than the avalanche of questions were the videos. There were so many of them. In her first two classes she’d seen him swim, showing them examples of how to improve various techniques as they spent the hour getting their heart rates up, but Percy in competition was something else entirely. He was a demon. It was as if the water itself was helping him, he moved through it so naturally. Every muscle in his body moved with efficiency, propelling him so effectively he left his competition in the dust time and time again – or maybe mist would be more accurate.

Annabeth felt heat rising in her cheeks as she watched a post-race interview of him after that record breaking swim. He was dripping wet, his hair a mess, still working to catch his breath after the almost fifteen minutes he’d spent swimming at practically inhuman speeds. The reporter did a great job, but Percy was awkward and shy, giving short answers and downplaying his accomplishment at every turn, despite the fact that he’d just made the best time of any swimmer in history.

In class and when talking with her, Percy had always exuded such an easy confidence, though she realized that his confidence was only ever in relation to _other_ people – whether Hazel and Leo or telling Annabeth how he felt, never about his own qualities. Apparently when the subject was himself, Percy’s confidence wavered. There was something all too endearing about that discovery.

Then there was his body. Annabeth had, obviously, noticed his body that very first day in class. And the second. And honestly, even when she’d seen him again after, fully clothed and otherwise innocuous. It was impossible to miss, _especially_ when he walked in shirtless and wearing those skin tight swim shorts. After a race, though, every muscle was taut and ultra defined from use, his skin flush from exertion. The only word to describe the thoughts that went through her mind while looking at him was carnal.

Over the last few years she’d had plenty of desires, even specific targets of that desire – a particularly handsome guy at a club, one of the upperclassmen in her major, even some of the guys Piper had brought home for one night stands (though never any of the guys Piper actually _dated_ ) – but fear had prevented her from ever acting on anything and she’d usually forgotten about them just as quickly as they caught her attention. They were just idealized fantasies she let herself get lost in when her hand slipped between her own thighs on late nights to relieve stress. They were safe and distant, with no potential to turn into something real, no risk of ending up painful and disappointing, of leaving her lonely and broken all over again.

By the time she got to class she felt overwhelmed, exhausted, and completely terrified Percy would take one look at her and know every debauched thought she’d entertained over the course of the last hour. That was why this was so unsettling. Percy was quickly becoming a real presence in her life, someone who actually wanted her, not just an abstract daydream she blew off a little steam to. Annabeth had a feeling she could have him that very morning if she wanted him.

She’d been so lost in her thoughts, Annabeth almost didn’t notice Hazel had taken a seat on the bleacher in front of her. There was a knowing grin on Hazel’s face as she greeted, “Hey, Annabeth. How was your weekend?” Her smile faltered for a second and she added, “Aside from the fiasco at your party, I mean.”

Doing her best to claw herself out of the deep pit she’d thought herself into, Annabeth nodded and put all her focus on Hazel. “Yeah, it was… interesting,” she replied. “Did you enjoy your drive home?”

Hazel rolled her eyes, her hands going up to fuss with her hair, smoothing over her already pristine ponytail. “It was great bringing the car around, but once Percy got there he took all the fun out of it. I swear, he nearly had a coronary. I know how to drive!”

“Just ignore him next time, take him for a joy ride all the way upstate and watch his head explode,” Annabeth suggested, glancing up to see Frank was finally approaching. 

He was cutting it unusually close with his arrival time. His brow was furrowed in thought, his shoulders hunched, and he didn’t seem to notice the girls at all when he sat down. Both Annabeth and Hazel looked at him, but he continued to stare off into space, looking terribly troubled. Annabeth had the distinct impression he was feeling just as conflicted about Percy as Piper had told her Jason was. Sadly, she realized he was probably considering dropping their class again.

“Hey Frank,” Hazel said softly, her hands fluttering up to her hair yet again, turning frantic and anxious even though there wasn’t a single strand out of place. “Did you make it home alright on Friday?”

Frank’s eyes grew wide as he turned to look at them, as if he was surprised to not be alone on the bleachers despite being in class. “Uh,” he started, looking very much like a deer in headlights, “yeah. I hope you… did, too?”

Hazel nodded, dropping her hands to her lap and turning her gaze to the bleachers. Her expression was contrite, as if she had done something wrong. “Was Reyna okay?” she asked, and Annabeth was reminded of Hazel’s guilt for not warning Percy the night of the party. That, she supposed, explained the look on Hazel’s face.

“It took her a while to calm down, but yeah,” Frank answered, his brow furrowing once again. He glanced at Annabeth and tried to smile. “She was really sorry.”

“Jason told us, don’t worry,” Annabeth assured him, though she doubted he’d do anything but worry for the rest of the day, from the way he struggled to focus on them for more than a few seconds at a time. Hazel seemed to have fallen into thought as well, both of them tense and guarded. Annabeth noted Leo was nowhere to be seen – which she supposed was fine since Percy had told her he wasn’t even actually in their class.

At eight sharp Percy walked out of the coaches’ office.

The bruising on his face had continued to fade, looking more like bags under his eyes from lack of sleep than a punch to the nose. Her eyes lingered as he walked up to the bleachers. Every treacherous thought she’d had over the course of her commute to school came rushing back full force and she balled her hands into tight fists, shoulders tensing. Percy smiled when his eyes met hers and she had to look away, feeling like he’d caught her red handed.

“Last week I got a feel for where everyone stands skill wise, so I thought we’d try something a little different today, have a little fun,” Percy announced, taking on the authoritative tone he used only in class. It was a strange contrast to the laid back, affectionate way he’d spoken over the weekend. “Everybody go ahead and pair up, then jump on in the pool. Get yourselves warmed up and then I’ll be over to give you instructions in a few.” A clap of his hands had the small group of their class buzzing with the very special kind of anxious chatter that only came from having to find a partner to work with.

Both Frank and Hazel looked to Annabeth, an awkward tension forming in their small group. If he’d been there Hazel likely would have paired off with Leo, but he was very obviously absent. Annabeth almost panicked, wanting to avoid the awkwardness of having to choose one of them, but a wonderful idea saved her – one that would either doom her new friend Frank or give him the biggest break of his life. Maybe, if she was lucky, it would help him decide not to give up on their class, too.

“Why don’t the two of you pair off? I’m sure I can find someone else,” she said.

They both stared at her, glanced at each other, and then looked back at Annabeth. Frank turned white as snow. Hazel’s hands fluttered again to her hair, though there still wasn’t a strand out of place. Annabeth expected them to begin objecting, but they looked at each other one more time, nodded, and then headed to the pool without another word. She wasn’t sure if it was because she’d given the instructions with a degree of authority, or if the two of them were just secretly eager to take the excuse. A little bit of both, she decided with a grin.

Her grin faded when she realized she was the only one still seated in the bleachers, though. Shit. Leo wasn’t there. The class was an odd number. She was considering whether that meant she’d need to join a pair for a group of three, in which case her brilliant accomplishment of getting Frank and Hazel to pair off would be rendered moot, when Percy approached.

“I figured I’d be paired with Hazel because Leo was gone,” he told her, crossing his arms over that beautifully broad chest of his, and like a broken record on repeat she found her eyes instantly stuck there. “Nice move getting her to pair off with Frank.”

“I wasn’t– I figured they’d both just be awkward with anyone else,” she quickly explained, forcing herself to focus on his face. Frank had trusted her with his secret and she wasn’t going to betray it. “I didn’t mind pairing with a stranger, but they both would have.”

Percy nodded, his lips pursed. “There’s that, and then there’s the big fat crushes they have on each other.”

“I wasn’t entirely sure about Hazel,” Annabeth admitted, smiling a little despite the panicked way her heart had begun to race. Jason, who knew Frank so well, hadn’t been aware of Frank’s crush on Hazel, but apparently Percy had picked up on it based on little interaction. It wasn’t the first time she’d be struck by his intuitiveness. She found it both surprising and immensely attractive.

“Either way, looks like you’re stuck with me today, Chase,” he replied with a shrug. For the first time she found she didn’t mind him using her last name instead of her first. If he was singling her out because he _liked_ her, well, that didn’t seem so bad. A second later, a little of the amusement in his expression faded. “Unless it’s too weird, or it makes you uncomfortable, in which case I’ll get Hazel to switch.”

It was too weird, but probably not for the reasons he was thinking. Percy didn’t know she’d spent her trip to school pouring over fascinating facts about him and thirsting over videos of him, and she wasn’t about to admit it to him there in the middle of class. Or probably ever. He thought it would be weird because he’d confessed his interest in her, but she found she didn’t mind knowing how he felt. If anything, she liked that he’d been so clear and honest about his intentions, felt more comfortable because of it. The real reason it was weird was because Annabeth had very unconfessed interest in him.

She could admit to him, though. She could tell him she was actually a little crazy about him, that her head had been so full of him the last week she could barely focus on anything else for more than five minutes. She could explain how scared she was, because she’d been hurt before and she didn’t know how to handle her own feelings. Something told her he’d understand, and maybe saying it out loud would be the first step toward getting through it.

Unloading all that on him seemed a little much, and she at least definitely couldn’t say it right then, in the middle of class. Like hell was she going to let her own stupid head get in the way of this chance for Frank and Hazel, though. Annabeth squared her shoulders and shook her head. “I can handle it if you can,” she assured him, the hint of a challenge in her voice – though whether the challenge was intended for Percy or herself, she wasn’t sure.

“Oh, I can handle it,” he replied, his grin widening. “Get your ass in the pool, Chase. You’re holding up the class.”

His tone sent a shiver up her spine.

While Annabeth followed his instructions and hurried off to get a few warm up laps done in the pool, she noticed Percy instead head over to the exercise equipment lining one of the walls. There wasn’t really time to think about it, though, as soon as she was focused solely on getting her laps done as quickly as possible to catch up to the others. Thankfully she wasn’t the last to finish, even with her late start, and as the class settled in for instruction she joined Hazel hanging on to one of the lane dividers to stay more easily afloat. Percy was sitting on the edge of the pool in Hazel’s lane, five aqua dumbbells stacked next to him and a smile on his face. It was clear he was excited about whatever he had planned for them and that excitement was adorable.

Once the last straggler finished their warm up Percy began his explanation. “We’re going to have a relay race! Each pair is going to get one of these,” he told them, holding up one of the purple foam bells. “You have to keep it submerged under water the entire length of the pool and back, then pass it off to your partner for them to do the same. Each of you will do two hand offs. Keeping these things down is a lot more work than it sounds like, so be careful. If it launches out of the water on you, you’ve gotta start your lap over.

“And,” he said, pointing to Annabeth, “since I’m Chase’s partner, we’ll need a handicap. Neither of us will start until the first team has finished a lap.”

“What!” Annabeth objected, suddenly _very much_ wishing she didn’t have Percy as a partner. Her competitiveness was not on board with having to start an entire lap behind, even if Percy was a demon in the pool. “I’d rather do all four on my own.”

“Too late,” Percy said with a shrug, his eyes sparkling with amusement, and began passing dumbbells to the other four pairs.

Hazel was looking at Frank with a glint of excitement in her eye and Annabeth was admittedly a little envious. Frank was one of the strongest swimmers in their class, Hazel as well. They were definitely the team to beat and Annabeth had been the one to set them up.

“What do we get if we win?” Hazel asked, putting her weight on the dumbbell Percy had passed her and struggling to keep it down – okay, maybe Annabeth still had a shot at winning.

“My undying respect,” Percy replied, covering his heart with a hand, making the rest of the class laugh. There really was a lot to be said for the comfortable, fun atmosphere Percy had created for their class in just two lessons.

“I already have that,” Hazel said, wrinkling her nose at him.

“I’m surrounded by critics,” he complained without any real concern, then pushed himself off the ledge and into the pool. When he popped back up, he was in Annabeth’s lane, not even two feet from her, his wet hair sticking up in every direction after he ran a hand through it. He might as well have been straight out of a movie, he was so unreal.

Annabeth moved to press herself up against the wall beside him. “I’ll start,” she told Percy, finding it difficult to make eye contact with how close they had to float.

“Good call, makes more sense for me to anchor,” Percy agreed with a nod, his gaze lingering on her for a few seconds longer than would be entirely appropriate were she not already fully aware of his interest in her. She liked it more than she should have. When finally he looked away, he raised his voice to address the rest of the class, “I probably won’t be paying close attention while I swim, so we’re doing this on the honor system. Starters on your marks! Get set! Go!”

The surrounding lanes exploded as the other four teams got their starts. Annabeth had to sit and wait, flashing a couple glares in Percy’s direction while she did so. Each time he just smiled wider, making her wish she could smack him over the back of the head – whether for making her take the handicap or just for looking so damn good, she wasn’t entirely sure.

Just as she suspected, and even with the challenge of keeping the dumbbell submerged, Hazel took an early lead over the rest of the pairs. At least having to wait gave Annabeth the small advantage of a little more time to get used to how much pressure it took to maintain the dumbbell just below the surface of the water. One of the other pairs lost control of theirs and had to start the lap over right as Hazel hit the far wall and turned back around.

“We’re going to win, don’t worry,” Percy said quietly, barely audible over the sounds of water being tread all around them.

“You’re not going to go easy on them?” Annabeth asked as Hazel quickly approached, excited by the intensity of his confidence. She really did want to win.

“Fuck no. We took the handicap so I wouldn’t have to, and I know you can at least keep pace with Frank. We’ve got this,” he replied, the playful glint in his eye turning more and more competitive as Hazel approached – and God help Annabeth Chase, was that look in his eye sexy. As if to reinforce the fact that Hazel and Frank were their main competition, another team’s dumbbell exploded out of the water. With a nod toward Hazel, only a few feet away, Percy said, “Get ready.”

Doing her best to focus, motivated by the desire to win, Annabeth readied their dumbbell and put her feet against the wall, prepared to push off. As soon as Hazel touched back, Annabeth was off, those few seconds it took to pass the dumbbell to Frank a precious advantage. Keeping the dumbbell under water _was_ harder than it looked and sounded, especially once the rest of her body was in motion. Annabeth had to rely almost entirely on her legs to propel her, only risking the occasional stroke of an arm, and quickly her arms began to tire from the effort.

Percy had been right, though. Annabeth managed to keep pace with Frank despite his significant upper body strength. She saw him struggling to keep the dumbbell submerged out of the corner of her eye as she turned her head for breaths. They were neck and neck as she rounded the far side of the pool and started her return lap, and when her hand pressed against the wall back beside Percy, Frank had only a second or two on her.

She barely even noticed Percy snagging the dumbbell from her and then he was gone. For how fast he shot across the pool, he might as well not have had the added difficulty of keeping it submerged at all. Even as she clung to the edge of the pool and fought to catch her breath, her eyes were locked on him. One arm held down the dumbbell while the other sliced through the water, making Hazel’s relatively impressive performance look like a kid trying to swim for the first time.

There was hardly any time for her to recover before Percy was approaching again. Hazel had only just touched the far wall when the dumbbell was pressed into Annabeth’s hands and she pushed herself off the wall. It was hard to gauge how well she was doing without Frank swimming beside her, but Annabeth fought through the oxygen hungry burn of her lungs and the soreness of her arms from holding the dumbbell down to make the most of the lead Percy had given them.

Again she barely noticed Percy taking the dumbbell from her when she returned to pass it off. It took her a few seconds to focus enough to process where they stood against the rest of the class. As far as she could tell, only Frank and Hazel were on their final round, but honestly she hadn’t been watching the rest of the class very closely. Frank was already at the other end of the pool, but Percy shot toward him like he had propellers instead of feet.

It was close, but with only half a pool length to go Percy caught up to Frank and then it was over. With a few seconds to spare, Percy’s hand made contact with the wall and he let their dumbbell explode to the surface as he came to a stop. Before she even had a chance to think about what she was doing, Annabeth let out a cheer and threw her arms around him, overcome with the rush of victory.

For a few blissful seconds Annabeth didn’t even care. Percy laughed breathlessly in her ear, the two of them barely managing to stay afloat, and his arms wrapped around her in return. It felt perfect.

Then she realized what she was doing and immediately released him, pushing back and muttering a quick, “Sorry. I was just– It was just exciting,” she said, feeling her face turning hot as she backed as far away as she could in their shared lane.

“Yeah, it was,” Percy agreed, still fighting to catch his breath, though from the smile he wore and the hint of shyness in his expression, she wasn’t entirely sure he meant the race.

Hazel was leaning on the lane divider again, watching them with the same knowing smirk she’d been wearing earlier at the bleachers. Behind her, Frank was clinging to the pool ledge as he caught his breath, looking like all his concerns from earlier had faded. “You suck,” Hazel said to Percy, but then to Annabeth, “That was a really awesome race, though. You killed that first lap.”

“You did too,” Annabeth replied, some of her pride over the win beginning to return as she recovered from being flustered. “I really thought we were out for the count before I even started.”

“Well, if Percy didn’t suck so much, you would have been,” Hazel said, glaring at Percy the same way Annabeth had been before the race started. It seemed Hazel had a competitive streak of her own. The rest of the class was finally catching up to the two overachieving teams, but they were still the only ones to have finished, as two more dumbbells launched out of the water and laps had to be restarted again.

Percy reached over to pinch Hazel’s cheek, his hand quickly being swatted away. “It doesn’t count as sucking if I won, Haze.”

“Hey, now, I did half the work here,” Annabeth quickly interjected, splashing some water his way. 

“ _We_ won,” Percy corrected, his gaze turning back to Annabeth and making her feel flush again. His eyes were dripping with pride and admiration, all aimed at Annabeth. “We make a pretty good team, Chase,” he added, putting feeling into the words, reminding her of all the confidence he’d had in their compatibility over coffee the day before.

“I guess we do,” she conceded, making his smile grow a little wider. Then, just to be difficult, added, “At least in the pool.”

Percy didn’t seem bothered by the amendment one bit.


	18. Chapter 18

Piper was getting real sick of people not calling or texting before they showed up at the apartment. 

When Jason did it because Piper had been ignoring his texts, that was excusable. When Percy had done it because he didn’t have their phone numbers and was just desperate to see Annabeth like a lovesick little puppy, Piper didn’t blame him. And, okay, they were the only two who’d done it in the last week, so she probably shouldn’t have been so bothered, but that was beside the point. In the miraculous golden age of instant communication, it was really just discourteous when there weren’t extenuating circumstances. Then again, as far as Piper was concerned, discourteous had always been Fredrick Chase’s middle name.

When he arrived at their apartment late Thursday afternoon the very first thing he said was, “Where’s Annabeth?” Not, ‘Hello, Piper! Lovely afternoon. Congratulations on your father’s pending nuptials!’ Just a demand to see his daughter.

Piper took a deep breath to calm herself. It wouldn’t do anyone any good if she snapped at Annabeth’s dad. That had happened before and it hadn’t been pretty. “Hello, Mr. Chase. She’s back in her room working on a project,” Piper answered, stepping aside so he could enter. 

As Fredrick walked through the living room, he gave a cursory glance at Jason who was seated on the couch with his laptop, feet propped up on the table, but said nothing. Piper found this a little amusing. If he’d known who Jason was – well, more the superficial fact that Jason was the son of a daytime soap star and a literal billionaire, not anything about Jason’s actual amazing qualities – he would have been throwing himself at Jason’s feet. She had half a mind to introduce them before Fredrick left just to see the look of horror on his face when he realized how rude he’d been to someone he actually thought was _important_.

Just as quick as he arrived at their door, he disappeared into Annabeth’s room. Piper couldn’t believe he didn’t even bother to knock again, just charged in as if he owned the place. _Piper_ owned the place. The apartment had been a graduation gift from her own father. Fredrick was lucky he’d never had to pay any room and board for Annabeth. He should have been more polite when visiting, but he never was.

“Who was that?” Jason asked quietly as Piper returned to the living room.

She had been curled up next to him catching up on some of her school reading before Fredrick’s arrival, but she picked up her textbook and chose to sit back down in one of the chairs facing the hallway so she could keep her eyes on Annabeth’s door. “Annabeth’s dad. It’s always bad news when he shows up.”

Jason quirked an eyebrow. “Does he not… call?”

“He intimidates her, and he knows he intimidates her, so he comes in person. Not calling throws her off, gives him that much more of an advantage,” Piper explained, and though her book was now open in her lap she couldn’t bring herself to look away from the door. It felt like a bomb was about to go off down the hall.

“Hard to imagine anyone intimidating Annabeth,” Jason commented. Piper agreed, but she didn’t have to imagine, she’d seen it for herself enough over the years. The only people Fredrick Chase didn’t intimidate were the McLeans. “Any idea what it’s about?”

“Usually he shows up when he needs her to go to some kind of function,” Piper told him. “He writes this cheesy historical fiction series set during World War Two about a heroic all American family struggling through the war years. Part of his shtick is that it’s inspired by his _own_ perfect little family, so he needs her to show up and act like they’re all happy. I think he’s got a release coming up, so he probably needs her to make a few appearances to keep up the image.”

“Annabeth’s dad writes _Fury and Family_?” Jason asked, turning to look down the hall over the back of the couch.

Piper groaned. “Please tell me you don’t read it. I might actually have to break up with you if you read it.”

Thankfully, Jason scoffed. “No, but my mom is in talks to play one of the leads in the TV series they’re developing. She’s excited because it might be her big break to get out of daytime and into serious stuff.”

“I’m going to barf,” she said, her mind reeling at the possibility. With the way her stupid, convoluted life usually went, her own father would be cast in the show too, probably opposite Jason’s mom, which would mean he’d have a bunch of gross, steamy sex scenes with her. That would be super duper, not straight out of a nightmare at all.

No, even her luck wasn’t that bad, and the one thing Piper and her dad could always agree on was hating Fredrick Chase. He wouldn’t touch that project with a ten foot pole, no matter how much money they could offer him. And, probably, a TV show wouldn’t be able to afford Tristan McLean to begin with, anyway.

“She’ll be okay,” Jason assured Piper. “And if she’s not, we’re right out here for her once he leaves.”

Piper finally broke her gaze from the hall to look at Jason, thankful for his calm confidence even if she didn’t believe it herself. “Annabeth has been in such a great mood,” she said, “I just hate the idea of him barging in here and ruining it so he can make a few extra bucks selling books.”

Jason set his laptop aside and came over to where Piper had curled up in the chair. It was a snug fit, but he slipped in beside her and wrapped his arms around her. Her body naturally melted into his, relaxing as much as was possible with how worried she was. 

“You’re perfect,” Piper said softly, her head resting against his shoulder.

“No,” Jason objected, pressing a kiss to the side of her head, “I just couldn’t stand to see how anxious you looked. And I needed a break, anyway.”

 _Perfect_ , she thought, but kept the insistence to herself. Wrapped in the safety of his arms, she returned to her reading, doing her best to focus on the text as she waited for Fredrick to come out of Annabeth’s room and leave. It wasn’t easy, and it only got harder as the minutes dragged on into well over half an hour. Finally, Piper snapped her book shut and blew a few stray hairs out of her face with a huff.

“I’m going in there,” she declared.

“No you’re not,” Jason insisted, his arms tightening around her. “I know Annabeth well enough to know she wouldn’t want you fighting her battles for her.”

Damn his good sense. “Can I text her?”

“Just once,” he agreed. Piper didn’t actually need his permission, of course, and she knew he wouldn’t actually stop her if she made her mind up, but even she could admit she needed someone to keep her impulsiveness in check. Annabeth had been doing that for years. Jason, it turned out, was pretty good at it too.

Piper jumped up to get her phone and then settled back into the chair with Jason. He set his chin on her shoulder. She didn’t mind if he was reading along with her typing, which was a bit of a surprise realization because Piper hated when people read over her shoulder – even Annabeth. She didn’t have much time to think about it, though. Much more important matters were at hand.

 **PIPER (02:07 PM)**  
time for me to call SWAT to rescue you?

**ANNABETH (02:09 PM)**  
not yet, but keep the number queued

 **PIPER (02:09 PM)**  
have em on speed dial, don’t worry

“Do you feel better?” Jason asked, and Piper could hear the smirk in his voice.

“Not in the least bit,” she replied, her head falling back in exasperation. “This is driving me crazy.”

“What do you usually do when he shows up?” he asked.

Piper laughed, closing her eyes and trying to settle back into his soothing embrace. “This. Agonize until he leaves.” Granted, Jason’s presence made the experience a little less terrible.

Humming in understanding, Jason leaned in to press a few slow, light kisses against her neck. That definitely made things less terrible. 

Since his confession that Monday morning, Jason had been slightly more comfortable initiating physical intimacy, even little things like those sweet kisses. She was still processing what he had shared with her. Part of her couldn’t believe it. Jason was so irresistible, she couldn’t imagine he hadn’t had women throwing themselves at him every single day since he’d hit puberty. Another part of her wasn’t surprised at all. If Thalia hadn’t been there when Piper had met him, they probably wouldn’t even have exchanged numbers. Women likely _had_ been trying to throw themselves at him all along, but Jason had been too much of a dork to take the bait.

The more she thought about it, though, the more anxious she became. Piper wasn’t sure she had ever been with a guy who wasn’t at least as experienced as she was, and she had definitely never been with a guy who _told_ her if he wasn’t. Piper worried she would be too much for him. She worried he’d realize he didn’t want to give himself to someone who had already given herself to so many others, that she was spent and unworthy.

Those thoughts, she knew, were more about her own insecurity than Jason’s character. He was well aware of her history and had never shown a hint of judgment – she hadn’t gone into graphic detail, told him numbers or anything like that, but she wasn’t ashamed of her past and didn’t try to hide it. Still, for the first time in her life, she’d started to feel like she had something worth holding on to, and the thought that the choices she’d made in the past could ruin it plagued her. 

Piper was immature, impulsive, hot tempered and reckless. Her history was a testament to that. She couldn’t blame Jason if he didn’t want all that.

“She’s okay,” Jason whispered in Piper’s ear, shaking her out of her thoughts. “If she needs you, she’ll text.”

Guilt wracked her. Piper had let herself get distracted by her own stupid insecurities when Annabeth was in there doing battle all alone. “I know,” she managed to reply, but even she didn’t believe it.

Another half hour passed before Annabeth and Fredrick emerged. Annabeth’s face was set into a stern expression, a storm brewing in her eyes. Fredrick looked more or less the same, completely unbothered. Piper had wondered for years if he cared at all about his daughter’s feelings and that day was not an exception.

“I’ll see you Sunday,” Fredrick told his daughter. He glanced once at Piper and Jason, but said nothing else. Like that, Fredrick Chase was gone.

Annabeth relaxed once the door had shut behind her father. “I hate when he does that,” she grumbled to no one in particular. Clearly exhausted, she trudged over and threw herself onto the couch.

“That was a long visit,” Piper observed. Usually Fredrick’s visits were a half hour or less.

“He had a lot to say,” Annabeth agreed, her voice dripping with annoyance.

Jason shifted beneath Piper. “Do you need me to leave so you can talk?”

Annabeth turned and smiled faintly. “No, it’s fine. You can if you want to, but I don’t mind if you stay.” Apparently he was too curious to feel awkward about sticking around, because he nodded and didn’t budge.

“What did he want?” Piper asked.

“He’s getting some kind of award this weekend,” Annabeth began, rolling her eyes. “He needs me to be there, which is whatever. It’s here in the city and I’m used to going to shit like that. They’re doing a big spread on him in a magazine as part of it, though. I have to go… home.”

“Like hell,” Piper said instantly. While she had no idea what kept Annabeth away from her dad’s place in San Francisco, Piper knew going back wasn’t an option. Since she’d showed up at Piper’s place in Malibu that summer before their senior year of high school started, Annabeth had never even considered going back.

Annabeth shook her head. “I tried to convince him I couldn’t, that we could make some kind of excuse about school, but he insisted. Apparently this magazine is a big deal and really prestigious, so everyone needs to be there.”

“Can’t you just tell him to fuck off for once?” Piper pleaded, sounding whiny and childish even to her own ears. Jason’s arms squeezed around her in support, but he left the two of them to do the talking.

“You know the deal I made with him when we moved out here to go to school,” Annabeth replied, though she continued as if Piper may have forgotten over the years, probably for Jason’s sake. “He pays all my expenses, doesn’t ask me to come home for holidays, doesn’t ask me for anything else, as long as I always show up when he needs me for events. If I don’t go, he’ll cut me off. 

“I considered saying no and letting him,” she continued, her brow furrowing in thought. “We don’t have to pay rent here, thanks to your dad. My tuition for this semester is already paid. You would never let me go without, though I definitely wouldn’t let you pay for everything. I could get a part-time job to cover the rest of my living expenses and be done being at his beck and call for good.”

“Then why?” Piper begged again, her heart breaking at the thought of Annabeth continuing to sacrifice for someone who had always treated her, at best, as a second rate citizen and at worst like actual trash.

When Annabeth looked at Piper, there was a powerful determination in her eyes, the likes of which Piper had never seen before – and truly, after all the intensity she’d witnessed in her best friend over the years, that was saying something. “Because if I don’t go back there, at least once, I’ll never really be free,” she said softly, desperately. “I’m tired of running from the past. I’m taking my life back.”

Well, that was certainly an idea Piper McLean could get behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> annabeth's dad is 100% ooc vs canon (and continues to be more so moving forward) but..... creative liberties. pls forgive.


	19. Chapter 19

Annabeth put herself on autopilot. Her body went through the motions. She finished the building model she’d been working on for class, ate dinner, got to bed, woke up, got dressed, ate breakfast, left for school. All the while her mind was hard at work sorting through her emotions, second guessing her decision to go home, playing out various scenarios and assessing risks. Piper, bless her, knew to give Annabeth a wide birth when this happened, but once Annabeth arrived on campus, she had the unfortunate task of trying to navigate other people.

She vaguely remembered saying hello to Frank when she got to swim class. He asked her something, she answered. There was no guarantee her answer made any sense. Hazel came over to sit with them again and thankfully the two of them did most of the talking from there on out. If she’d had a little more clarity of mind, she might have noticed they were actually _talking_ , complete sentences and everything, or that Leo was once again missing from class, but she had no such clarity.

It wasn’t until she was toweling off at the bleachers after class that she was finally zapped out of her zombie state by Percy all but shouting at her.

Blinking, she replied to him with a very intelligent, “Huh?” as she wrung her hair in her towel.

“I asked if you were okay,” Percy said, studying her with obvious concern. His bruises were all but gone, his stupid, handsome face returned to its natural state.

“Yeah,” she replied automatically, then quickly thought better of lying. The urge to be so honest surprised her, but she decided not to fight it. “Well, kind of. Or I will be.”

Whether or not he was satisfied with that answer, he didn’t press the issue. Instead he asked, “When’s your next class?”

“In a few hours. I usually get cleaned up and then head to the library after this,” she answered, again not sure why she so willingly offered up the extra information. Probably, she thought, because his eyes were boring into her so intently it felt a little like he was reading her soul.

“I’m going to get some second breakfast, wanna tag along?” he asked, a smile playing at his lips. A second later he was rushing to add, “Just, you know, a friendly thing, to get your mind off of whatever’s bothering you.”

“Second breakfast,” Annabeth repeated blankly, “like a hobbit?”

“Exactly like a hobbit,” Percy confirmed.

She couldn’t help barking a laugh. Absolutely nothing about this man was predictable. “I’m not really a second breakfast type.”

“Everyone is a second breakfast type,” he insisted, his smile growing in the wake of her laugh. “My treat.”

Her mind was already jumbled, her emotions raging. On Sunday she’d have to see her dad again. It would be her last chance to back out of going home. Annabeth had to be sure of her decision by then, which meant she needed time to think, to consider her options and decide whether she was up to the task of actually going home when she knew that likely meant seeing Luke.

There was a little time to spare, though, a part of her insisted. It was the part of her that felt warmth spreading through her body every time Percy smiled, the part of her that found itself staring at him in class, the part that found itself thinking about him when she was supposed to be focusing on a design or when she was trying to fall asleep. That part of her thought it would be a mighty fine idea to distract herself with his company, forget the fight ahead of her at least for an hour or two.

“Since it’s your treat,” she agreed.

They met about half an hour later, Annabeth rushing through her shower and to get dressed, more excited than she would ever be able to admit to herself. Of course he was already waiting in the hall when she stepped out of the locker room, his hair still damp, but dressed in his usual combination of t-shirt and jeans, a jacket draped over his arm and a backpack slung over one shoulder. She hated how hard it was not to stare even when he was dressed, the way he looked just as good in clothes as he did out of them.

“Where are we getting second breakfast?” she asked, coming to a stop a couple feet away from him, careful to keep a safe distance.

Percy twirled his car keys around one finger. “My favorite place.”

“I didn’t agree to a drive,” Annabeth pointed out, though the idea thrilled her more than she would ever admit.

“Should have read the fine print,” he told her with a shrug, pushing off the wall and starting toward the exit without another word.

Someday she hoped she might begin to understand why he was so impossible to resist. Annabeth followed after him, having to jog for a few seconds to catch up. “There has to be a written agreement for there to be fine print,” she argued, as if there was any chance she was going to change her mind. Really, she just liked arguing for the sake of it, and he seemed to enjoy indulging her. “We had a verbal agreement.”

“In that case, I’ll have to make sure all our agreements are written from now on,” he said solemnly. In a completely natural motion, he stepped ahead of her to hold the door as they walked outside.

Annabeth turned, walking backwards to face him as they headed out of the athletic center and onto the street. “If you’re telling me you’re going to trick me with fine print, I’m always going to read it, and you’re not going to get away with anything.”

“And you’re going to trip over something if you keep walking like that,” he said, laughing.

Being with him was effortless. She wasn’t sure when it had become that way. Maybe it always had been. Even when she was so wrapped up in her own thoughts about whether he hated her, trying to decide what she thought of him, conversation had come naturally. The urge to censor herself was never there. She didn’t feel like she needed to impress him, not because she didn’t care what he thought, but because _he_ didn’t seem to care about being impressed. He cared about what was real.

“Nope, I can’t take it, you’re driving me crazy.” His voice interrupted her train of thought and he stepped forward to grab her gingerly by the arm and face her forward. He patted her firmly on the shoulders once, then released her. “Much better. Bessie’s right over there,” he told her, pointing just up the block.

Percy had told her she’d understand why his car had such a stupid name when she saw it. That was patently false. Annabeth didn’t know much about what made cars work, but they had always interested her in a purely aesthetic way as someone who appreciated design, and she recognized the body of a classic Chevy Malibu. If she had to guess, she would say it was from sometime in the late 70s, though it appeared to be well kept. The mustard yellow paint job made her cringe, especially considering it looked like it was _recent_ , like it had been a color Percy chose.

“She’s a beaut’,” he said fondly, stopping just short of the car to appreciate it as if it were his first time seeing it.

Annabeth couldn’t help staring at him, though for once it wasn’t for the sake of admiring his appearance. “You are an absolute enigma.”

His gaze turned to her, and heat raced to her cheeks as his eyes seemed to appreciate her just as intently as he did the car. There was something deeper in his gaze than the way he looked at her in class, a reflection of what she’d felt from the moment she first laid eyes on him – desire. “The feeling’s mutual,” he assured her, and he held out his hand. “Shall we?”

Morning traffic made their trip slow, but she didn’t mind being trapped in the car with him, talking about everything and nothing. 

Percy told her he and Leo had “rescued” Bessie (she’d been right about the model, but wrong about the year, which was 1974) from a junk yard and fixed the car up themselves when they were in high school. They’d fixed up a second car for Leo at the same time – a 1975 Buick Electra 225 Leo had named Festus. Annabeth made it clear both Percy and Leo should be banned from naming things forever. He also explained, when she had asked, that Leo was missing class that week because of a research project he was helping a professor on – and from the absolute pride in Percy’s voice as he explained, Annabeth could tell whatever it was, Leo’s involvement was a big deal.

Annabeth told him more about her years at boarding school with Piper. He laughed when she explained about the first time she’d chased down a delivery driver for her best friend, telling him she’d been completely crazed at the sight of Piper near tears over pasta and had never fully recovered from the trauma. Being reminded of Piper made him ask about the Tristan McLean news, which surprised Annabeth. She hadn’t told him about Piper’s dad, but apparently Piper wasn’t the only one who’d been hard at work Googling.

After over an hour on the road, Percy parked smoothly in front of a tiny, rundown diner Annabeth had definitely never been to. The sign above the front door read, _The Grove_ , and it was too dark inside to see anything through the windows. Yet again Percy opened the door for her, and this time Annabeth stepped into another world.

The inside was covered in greenery. Ivy climbed the walls, wound around columns, lined booths. Flowers sprouted everywhere, in every color imaginable, from planters and pots placed without any rhyme or reason. It smelled like earth and dirt, like a secret, wild place, which shouldn’t have been appealing in a restaurant, but somehow worked. The booths were hand carved from oak, and as an aspiring architect she couldn’t help admiring the craftsmanship. Light trickled in through the windows, giving the room a warm glow even in the middle of winter. It was surreal, felt like it shouldn’t be able to exist in the cruel world Annabeth knew – much the way she often found herself thinking about Percy.

“Perce!” a voice called from behind the counter, and Annabeth noticed for the first time a young man standing there. His curly red hair was tucked under a Rasta cap and his friendly, smiling face covered in freckles and a goatee.

“G-man!” Percy called back, making straight for the counter. The two of them clasped hands and leaned over the counter to slap each other on the back. When he straightened, Percy turned to Annabeth and beckoned her over. “Grover, this is Annabeth Chase. Annabeth, this is my oldest friend in the world, Grover Underwood.”

“Nice to meet you,” Annabeth said, closing the distance to the counter and holding her hand out to Grover.

“You too,” Grover agreed, giving Annabeth a firm handshake and turning to look at Percy, perplexed. “Juniper is out running some errands, so let me know what you want and grab yourselves some seats.”

“The usual, please, and make it double,” Percy told him, a wide grin on his face. It seemed like he and Grover were having some kind of unspoken conversation and Annabeth couldn’t make sense of it. What she could make sense of, though, was that Percy had just ordered for her. Huge mistake.

“Actually,” she interrupted, “I’d like to see a menu. Please.”

Grover looked from Percy, to Annabeth, and back to Percy. “Yeah, dude. She’d like to see a menu,” he repeated, pulling one out from beneath the counter and handing it off to her.

“She doesn’t trust me yet,” Percy said heavily, leaning one elbow on the counter and watching her intently.

“Sounds like a smart lady,” Grover observed, making Annabeth grin as she took the menu from him and began to peruse it.

From the outside, Annabeth would have guessed the place would be the type of diner to have a huge, convoluted menu with every item available at all hours. The interior had flipped her expectations upside down, though, and those pleasant surprises continued with the menu, which was simple and straightforward, a sure sign each dish was carefully curated and prepared with quality ingredients. Maybe trusting Percy wasn’t such a bad idea, after all.

“I’ll take the espresso waffles with mocha drizzle, and a side of the brown sugar cinnamon tofu bacon, please,” Annabeth decided after a very short deliberation – she’d already had a proper breakfast, or at least as proper as cheerios and bananas were, so a dessert like second breakfast was perfect.

Grover looked like he was going to laugh, but he took Annabeth’s menu and said, “Coming right up.”

Percy clarified the amusement in Grover’s face a second later. “You really should learn to trust me,” he said, grinning shamelessly. It was his order. She’d ordered the very thing he’d tried to order for her.

“It wasn’t about whether or not I’d like what you ordered,” she explained, trying her best not to seem like this turn of events was making her heart flutter, “it was about not liking people ordering for me.” Annabeth turned on her heel and made her way around to one of the booths near the front windows, where the light was the best.

“I seem to remember not long ago you _wanted_ me to make an order for you,” Percy said lightly, following close behind and sliding into the seat across from her. “Quite persistently, actually.”

“I wanted you to relay the order, not make it for me,” she corrected. Even though she still felt a tinge of embarrassment about that night, she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of acknowledging it when he was so obviously bringing it up to torture her.

Percy nodded sagely and leaned back in the booth, his large frame spreading out and easily filling the space. “Will you tell me what had you so distracted in class now?” he asked suddenly, surprising her.

“I thought you’d dropped that,” she said softly, averting her gaze as best she could.

“I put a pin in it,” he replied. “But I’m worried about you, so I thought I’d give it another shot now that we’re not in the middle of the aquatic center with other people around.”

Annabeth wished she had something to do with her hands, a drink to hold, a towel to pat her hair dry with, anything. Alas, she had to settle for crossing her arms and tucking her hands away. “It’s family stuff. Complicated.” A half truth, she hoped he wouldn’t mind.

“It would be hypocritical of me to push you to say more,” he admitted, with a gentle chuckle. “If you want to, though… you can.”

Percy regarded her with such considerate compassion, his eyes warm and welcoming, understanding. Annabeth tried to remember if she’d made that offer when they had coffee, if she’d invited him to share the details of the painful story that had led to Reyna’s outburst at the party. She didn’t think she had, and she felt like a jerk of the highest degree.

The words started tumbling out of her before she made a conscious decision to share them. “My dad has this big gala thing for a literary award he’s won, and next weekend he needs me to fly home for a magazine feature about it all. We… we don’t really get along, but he needs me there to keep up appearances. The gala is fine, I’ve done things like that before, but going home… going home is hard for me. I haven’t been in years, but I think it might be time to give it a shot. I’m trying to decide if I’m up to it.”

Silence fell between them as he considered her story. Looking him in the eye was still difficult, especially because of the details she didn’t feel like getting into. She certainly couldn’t tell him about the reason she never went home, but she was also afraid to admit why she finally wanted so badly to confront that fear, her past – him. Annabeth hadn’t put it to words, but it was true. If she was going to stand a chance at opening up to Percy, she had to be able to face what had happened all those years ago with Luke. She wanted to open up to Percy.

“You’re up to it,” he said with finality.

“What?” she asked, a laugh escaping her along with the word. His surety was baffling.

“You’re up to it,” he repeated. “Whatever it is, you can handle it. I haven’t known you long, but I know that much.”

“But how can you know that?” she demanded. “I don’t even know that.”

“Because you approach everything head on, fearlessly,” he told her, and before she could even open her mouth to object, he continued. “Because I’ve already seen you do the impossible in getting Hazel to talk to the guy she’s been too terrified to say so many as two words to for years, after having like two conversations with her yourself. Because you kicked ass in that race on Monday even though I know you thought we were going to lose. Because if something goes wrong, you’ve got a best friend who sounds like she’d gladly watch the entire world burn for you. And because,” he concluded with a shrug, “in that case, I’d be right there beside her setting the fires myself.”

It took all her strength not tear up as his words settled over her, making her feel at once comforted and completely exposed. The best way to avoid losing control was to make a joke, so she teased without much conviction, “Burning the world down for someone you’ve known less than two weeks sounds a little extreme.”

“Extreme is kind of my default setting,” he admitted, and though his tone was light, she didn’t think he was joking.

Annabeth couldn’t help the way her mind drifted back to the summer she turned eighteen; the careful and calculated way Luke had played her, hiding his ulterior motives behind sweet words and thoughtful gestures; how intent he’d been on hiding her away, keeping her a secret, something to be ashamed of (rightfully so, but she hadn’t known it then); and when he’d had her where he wanted her, he took everything he could, as quickly as possible. Nothing had ever been genuine, it had all been a game and Annabeth had lost miserably.

Percy sat before her, raw and earnest. He hadn’t been afraid to state his intentions – he’d said it clearly over coffee that Sunday, he was all in. He wanted her. He’d been careful not to push her into anything uncomfortable after, whether partnering up on Monday or assuring her he had no expectations that their outing today meant anything. He made an active effort to introduce her to and tell her about the important people in his life, even to the point of dragging her halfway across town to his oldest friend’s charming little diner. He gave to her freely, expecting nothing in return, content with just her time and a meal.

When all this had started, Piper had joked that Percy wanted to fuck her, and maybe he did. She hoped as much, because despite the mild terror she felt at the idea, she could admit she wanted it too, at least eventually. Annabeth wanted to throw away every memory she carried from her first “love” and start fresh, feel his hands and his breath on her skin, get lost in him, maybe even learn what actually loving someone was really like. She was tired of running away, of hiding, of letting fear control her.

“What are you doing Sunday night?” she found herself asking, heart racing.

The question, which, to be fair, was a little out of left field, clearly surprised him. “Why?”

“I was just thinking, I’ve never brought a date to one of my dad’s events,” she said, a slow smile spreading across her face. “Might be fun to give it a try.”

“A date,” he repeated, his smile matching her own. It was insanely reckless, but as she saw the pure, boyish excitement in his eyes, all doubt faded. He’d said he was willing to wait, but he certainly hadn’t needed to wait long. She really couldn’t resist him, and with every passing second she wanted to less. With a nod, smile unfading, he told her, “I’ll clear my schedule.”


	20. Chapter 20

“If you’re shopping for Annabeth, shouldn’t _Annabeth_ be the one shopping with you?” Jason asked, his hands in his pockets as he wandered aimlessly between clothing racks. Piper had dragged him out with her first thing on Saturday – which, considering first thing on Saturdays for Piper usually meant mid-afternoon, she thought that wasn’t too bad.

“When I told her we needed to go, she said, ‘My closet is full of outfits that are appropriate for a gala,’ and went back to the research paper she’s working on,” Piper explained, idly perusing the small boutique's collection.

Getting Annabeth to go shopping with her had always been difficult, even when they’d been teenagers and should have loved going to the mall and hanging out for hours on end. Usually Annabeth would reluctantly agree to such trips, but Piper didn’t ask as often as she wanted to simply because she’d known Annabeth would only be going for her sake. There were other friends she’d been able to enjoy shopping with, of course, and she and Annabeth had never been the types that needed to do _everything_ together (even if they usually did), but on days like this she really wanted to scream over Annabeth’s indifference.

Having a boyfriend to drag with her instead did make it a little more enjoyable for Piper, though.

Her description of the events leading up to their day of shopping didn’t seem like much of an explanation to Jason, though, who raised an eyebrow and asked, “Then why are you still shopping at all?”

Honestly, she shouldn’t have been surprised Jason didn’t understand, not when his wardrobe consisted of about four different pieces he owned in every possible color and alternated between in various combinations. At least he had good taste and knew how to choose a flattering fit, or Piper would have already thrown his whole wardrobe out and started from scratch. Jason had created a good foundation. She could instead focus on buying him little things here and there until a more diverse and fashionable collection had been curated.

“Because she’s not just going to the gala, she’s going on a date,” Piper told him, which made his face scrunch in a very obvious show of distaste. 

Jason, she knew, wasn’t too excited that Annabeth was continuing her relationship with Percy. He had agreed he wouldn’t say anything to Annabeth directly, but when it was just the two of them he was free to express his misgivings. They had also agreed not to go any further into the details about Percy’s involvement in the death of Bianca di Angelo, at least until Percy decided to talk to Annabeth himself. If Jason told Piper, she knew she’d slip up and tell Annabeth and Annabeth had made it clear she didn’t want to invade Percy’s privacy as they got to know each other.

Not knowing was difficult for Piper, though. She wanted to know exactly what Annabeth was getting into so she could protect her friend. Her only comfort was believing if Jason thought Percy Jackson posed an actual, imminent threat to Annabeth’s well being, he would be much more insistent in his objections. Instead she got the impression he just didn’t like the guy, probably only because Reyna didn’t.

“Don’t you need to see her in things to know what to buy?” he asked, and in a sweet attempt at being helpful, he pulled out a floor length floral print dress that looked like it belonged on someone at least eighty years old.

Piper wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “I know her shape and style well enough to narrow it down without her here. I’ll buy a few different things, bring them back to the apartment and make her try them there.”

“You don’t need her measurements, or something?”

“I started taking Annabeth’s measurements every six months when we were like twelve. I have them memorized, don’t worry,” she replied with a scoff, as if the idea she _didn’t_ already have them was crazy. Annabeth really did indulge her too easily. Probably she shouldn’t have been too fussy about the refusal to shop, all things considered, but Annabeth had always been someone Piper could be as fussy as she wanted to be with. 

Amusement danced across Jason’s features. “You’re ridiculous, you know.”

“Maybe,” she conceded, pulling a dress off the rack. She’d been by that rack twice already and each time she had come back specifically for that piece, never able to make her mind up about it.

“And you’d look good in that,” he said, stepping toward her.

Piper held the dress – a turquoise number that was definitely too short for the event Annabeth was going to – against her body, looking down at it. It wasn’t a color she usually went for, but she didn’t completely hate the way it looked with her skin tone. “You think so?” 

“Yes,” he confirmed, resting his hands on her waist, his discerning blue eyed gaze boring into her, as if he saw perfectly the way it would cling to her curves were she to slip into it. He hadn’t seen her naked yet, but his hands had continued to become more ambitious in their exploration of her body during their make out sessions that week and she was sure he had developed a clear image in his mind’s eye. “You’d look good out of it, too.”

Satisfaction flooded her, making heat rise to her cheeks, and she nudged his chest playfully. “Jason Grace, when did you become so forward?”

“You have a dangerous effect on me,” he told her. The confidence with which he’d said those words faded almost instantly, turning into a bashful grin. Despite the turn of shyness, he took the dress from her, slung it over his arm, and turned to walk away.

“Where are going with that?” she called, amused.

Jason didn’t even bother turning around to face her when he answered, “To buy it for my girlfriend!”

Apparently Piper wasn’t the only one interested in adding to their wardrobes, though she knew in his case it had nothing to do with an interest in fashion.

They made their way through a few more shops, Piper becoming increasingly discouraged as she found nothing that stood out as worthy for Annabeth’s first date, well, ever – at least as far as Piper knew. Afternoon had turned into evening, the light outside quickly fading. Soon shops would start to close and all Piper’s efforts would have been in vain. Then, after assuring Jason it would be the last stop of the night, fate smiled on her.

“You said you’d need to buy a few for her to try on back at home,” Jason said as they exited the little shop, a skip in Piper’s step. She couldn’t believe she’d almost not even bothered going in. “Why do you look so happy?”

“Because I was wrong, I only needed one. This one. It’s perfect,” she answered, and she hooked her arm through Jason’s. If Piper had tried to design a dress for Annabeth herself, she couldn’t have possibly done better. Already she was mentally going through Annabeth’s collection of shoes, picking out the perfect pair to match, and deciding what style would be best for Annabeth’s hair.

Jason didn’t look convinced. “Are you sure? All the other ones you’ve looked at today were more… fluffy.”

She had to laugh. “I have no idea what you mean by that, but it’s probably the reason I didn’t choose any of them.”

“If you say so,” he conceded, clearly still skeptical. “You know, though, I was thinking…”

Piper waited for him to continue, and when he didn’t, she knew she’d have to coax whatever was on his mind out of him. This happened annoyingly often. Jason was absolutely perfect as far as she was concerned, but he was still a dork. “You were thinking what?”

“Well, Annabeth will be gone tomorrow night,” he started, and Piper nodded to encourage him to continue. “I was thinking, instead of you hanging around the apartment alone, or us just spending the evening studying, you might, maybe, want to come over to my place. Have dinner with everybody. You didn’t really get to talk to anyone at the party before… well, you know. Plus, Nico would be more comfortable and probably actually talk to you instead of just slinking off. I think you’d like him. And Reyna definitely wants to make things up to you. Oh, and–“

Piper stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and turned to look at Jason directly. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to laugh or smack him over the head. Probably both. “Did you really think it would take convincing for me to say yes?”

“Maybe?”

“I would love to have dinner with your family tomorrow,” Piper told him firmly. The idea alone was more exciting than she knew how to express to him. She’d thrown an entire party just for the sake of meeting the people he loved and he still thought there was a chance she wouldn’t want to have dinner with them. Definitely a dork. “I would love to have dinner with your family any night, because they’re your family. I’ll never need any convincing for that.”

Jason stepped toward her, closing the small distance between them, and wrapped his arms around her waist. The bags he carried for her bounced and crinkled against her back. She hadn’t even asked him to carry them, he’d just taken each one as cashiers had handed them over, adding to his collection (Piper had only found one dress for Annabeth, but she’d found several things for herself, including a dress that might suffice for her dad’s wedding in a couple weeks).

“They’re going to love you as much as I do,” he said, his voice quiet, intense. 

It might have been an accident had anyone else said it, an unintentional slip of the tongue, but this was Jason. Jason never said anything accidentally. He weighed every single word carefully before putting it out into the world, knowing words were powerful things that could never be taken back. No, Jason knew exactly what he was saying, and he said it the way he did for the very purpose of giving Piper an out, an excuse to pretend it was accidental so there would be no need for awkwardness if she wasn’t ready to say it back.

The world around them seemed to slow, while Piper’s heart started to race. Her arms wound around his neck, and she didn’t care that they were in the middle of a busy sidewalk on a Saturday evening. She kissed him. Let people gawk. Let people get annoyed they had to dodge two idiots rudely making out where others were trying to walk. Let them see that this Adonis of a man was _hers_.

When she finally broke away she wasn’t sure how long had passed. She was absolutely breathless, the crisp, cold air burning her lungs as she gulped it down. Jason looked dazed, but a smile pulled at his reddened lips. Piper matched his expression as she told him, “And I’m sure I’ll love them as much as I do you.”

Technically she wasn’t saying the words. Somehow that made it less terrifying. Still, it was the first time she’d ever said them. Over ten years of dating and relationships and Piper McLean had never been in love, not even close. She and Jason had barely known each other a month, and the feelings were still budding, little sprouts in her heart barely beginning to take root, but they were there and she _felt_ them. Even just as she looked at him on that sidewalk she could feel those roots burrowing deeper into her. Before long she knew they would take her over, heart and soul.

Maybe she should have been afraid of those words, of the new and unexplored world she was stepping into, but she wasn’t. It was long overdue.

“Let’s get out of this cold,” Jason said, leaning down to kiss her forehead the same way he had on their first date. She loved when he did that. On that night it had felt like he was teasing her – not that she’d minded too much – but as time had passed her appreciation for the simple show of affection had only grown. She’d also come to realize he hadn’t exactly been teasing, he’d just been completely out of his element and a little scared to actually kiss her.

“Can we get dinner? I’m in the mood for soup,” Piper asked, not yet moving away from him. Returning to such mundane conversation after their confessions somehow made them even sweeter. They’d been as natural as commenting on the weather.

“Soup sounds good,” he agreed. “Somewhere with bread bowls and no wait to be seated.”

She couldn’t help but laugh, those roots in her heart digging a little deeper. “You have very unsophisticated taste for someone who grew up as rich as you did, you know,” she teased lightly. It didn’t bother her. A bread bowl and no wait sounded good to her, too.

“It’s in protest,” he explained, and that made her smile impossibly wider. “I refuse to suffer hunger just to be obnoxiously pretentious, which is absolutely something my parents would do.”

Piper stepped to his side and slipped her hand in his. Jason tucked their linked hands into his jacket pocket. They began back down the sidewalk again together, two people newly in love and very hungry for soup and bread after a hard afternoon of shopping.


	21. Chapter 21

Annabeth had told Piper she didn’t need a new dress. She had intentionally refused to go shopping because she did not _want_ a new dress. She hadn’t wanted to make a fuss about the evening, partially because she was panicking about going on a _date_ , but mostly because she didn’t like making any effort when her dad was involved.

Annabeth had been wrong.

As she looked at herself in the mirror, she felt like an entirely new person. The dress was a bold shade of red, with a full a-line skirt and hem that fell just above her knees, not something Annabeth would necessarily have chosen for herself. A plunging sweetheart neckline, cut out side panels and mid open back exposed more skin than even the swimsuits she wore to class, at least above the waist. The satin fabric was covered in a tantalizing, intricate embroidery that gave the otherwise simple and sexy piece a complex maturity.

The dress was probably sexier than was entirely appropriate for the event they were attending, but for once Annabeth didn’t care about being entirely appropriate. She liked the way the dress made her feel, the way it complimented her body shape and played up her features. She liked the idea of Percy spending the entire night looking at her in it, going home at the end of the evening and not being able to get her image out of his mind.

Piper had paired it with a pair of strappy gold heels and spent close to an hour pinning Annabeth’s curls into an extravagant up do worthy of any top tier salon. Annabeth had even let Piper talk her into a more extensive layer of makeup than she would have otherwise worn, with golden eyeliner and a red lip. When they were done, Piper shone with adoration, both proud of her work and bubbling with excitement at the prospect of Annabeth heading into the world so made up.

“Ahem!” Piper said from the living room, addressing her poor boyfriend, who had been abandoned to wait for her while she spent the better part of two hours preparing Annabeth. “May I present, the most amazing, beautiful and powerful woman in the world, Annabeth Chase.”

The dramatic introduction made Annabeth roll her eyes, but she did as Piper had instructed and stepped out to present herself to Jason as a preliminary debut. His eyes grew wide at the sight of her, and Annabeth thought for a second he might laugh. That was fine, she hadn’t dressed up for Jason, anyway.

“You look amazing,” he assured her after taking a few seconds to appraise the makeover, and reign in his amusement. “Weird to see you so… fancy. But you do look amazing.”

“Fancy,” Piper repeated, indignant, and turned to Annabeth. It was clear she wasn’t pleased all her hard work had received such a lackluster response. “He says you look fancy.”

Annabeth found Piper’s frustration entertaining, so she decided to side with Jason. “He’s right. I’m going to a fancy event. Looking fancy is good.”

“My gifts are wasted on the two of you, and I should have never introduced you. I’m always outnumbered now,” Piper complained, though there was a smile pulling at her lips. Annabeth could almost hear Piper’s own mind lamenting the fact she was cursed to love a couple of complete plebeians.

“When is Percy getting here?” Jason asked. Annabeth noted he said Percy’s name with trepidation. If things continued to progress with Percy, Annabeth and Piper were probably going to need to figure out a solution for that problem, but for now she let it slide.

She checked the time on her phone. Since their trip to The Grove she and Percy had finally begun exchanging texts, though they had been sparing and scattered throughout the day. It was nothing like the constant back and forth Piper and Jason shared when they weren’t together, but Annabeth preferred it that way. “He left a little bit ago, should be here soon.”

As if on cue, there was a knock on the door and Piper ordered Annabeth to stay put. Apparently it was important Percy’s first glimpse be the whole picture, from afar, to fully appreciate it. This had been discussed at length earlier in the evening, while Piper was getting Annabeth ready. Grinning like a kid on Christmas morning, quite possibly even more excited than Annabeth herself, Piper opened the door and welcomed Percy into the apartment.

While once she might have shied away from staring at him, or at least tried to hide it, she no longer felt any shame in raking her eyes over his form to take in every little detail. He was wearing a simple black suit that fit him like a glove. Even though she knew he would be wearing it, the sight still surprised her enough to inspire a sharp intake of breath. There was no tie around his neck, and the white shirt he wore under his jacket had the first few buttons undone. On anyone else it might have looked messy, unfinished. On Percy it perfected the look.

For once, his hair wasn’t an unkempt mess atop his head. Not only had it been properly brushed, it was carefully styled and secured in place with product. He’d probably spent a whole five minutes on it. To complete the treacherously debonair look, he wore a wicked grin that set her heart racing.

“Wow,” Percy finally said, quietly, and Annabeth realized he’d been drinking her in with just as much reverence. People often looked at Piper that way, but Annabeth had no idea how to handle the attention. She was also surprised by how much she enjoyed it.

“You brushed your hair,” she teased in return, instead of addressing any of the actual things she was feeling.

“I’m glad I did,” he told her.

It was only when Piper started to wave her arm that Annabeth remembered they had an audience. “You’re going to be late if you stand here much longer,” Piper told them, though she looked very satisfied by Percy’s reaction. Someone was finally appreciating her hard work. “Go. Have fun. Try to get a picture of my old pal Fred’s face when you walk in.”

“Is there a curfew I should be aware of?” Percy asked, turning to Piper and speaking with mock seriousness.

“Absolutely not,” Piper told him. “Keep her as long as you want.”

“Piper!” Annabeth chided, finally moving toward the door and stopping to smack her best friend on the arm with the small purse Piper had chosen for her. It matched her shoes and was barely big enough to store her phone, a compact mirror and her lipstick for reapplication.

Percy was once again raking his eyes over Annabeth, and this time it not only made her heart race, but her face begin to burn. “That’s a very dangerous suggestion,” he observed, and though his voice and words oozed playful confidence, the way he held his hand out to Annabeth was tentative. She took it without hesitation.

“I’ll see you later,” Annabeth said to Piper, and gave Jason a quick wave goodbye. “You two have fun tonight.”

After a couple friendly waves from Percy to Piper and Jason, the two of them were out the door and headed toward the elevator, hand in hand for the first time. The simple touch was absolutely thrilling. She felt silly for it, but she clung to him just the same.

“Nervous?” he asked once they were in the elevator.

Annabeth shook her head. “I’ve gone to a million of these things. They’re boring and stuffy, but aside from a little formal conversation and some pictures, my dad usually ignores me in favor of just about everyone else.”

“Well, at least that means I’ll get you to myself most of the time,” he said with a gentle squeeze of her hand. “I’d hate to have to share you too much, especially when you look this stunning.”

“Greedy,” she admonished him, though deep down she was pleased.

“Yes,” he agreed, utterly shameless, then led her out of the elevator and off to where he’d parked Bessie down the block.

Early evening traffic made the trip from her apartment to the hotel where her father’s event was being held take longer than should have been possible, but Annabeth had taken that possibility into account and planned accordingly. It was nice to spend more time with Percy alone in his car, making easy conversation and stealing glances at each other. For the first time she noticed his gaze lingering, his eyes naturally drawn to the features her dress accentuated. 

In class Percy never stared, not the way she most definitely stared at him. This had admittedly made her worried her immense physical attraction to him wasn’t mutual. Piper had pointed out he was probably actively avoiding acting like a creep, considering he was technically her teacher, but Annabeth had continued to feel insecure. Sitting with him in the car, catching him staring every time they reached a red light or a small traffic jam, those insecurities began to fade away.

Annabeth was sure the hotel valet had seen stranger cars than Bessie, but she couldn’t help being amused by the looks they were given when they pulled up and stepped out. She had never been as eager as Piper to be contrary when it came to their fathers’ extravagance. Still, Annabeth had to admit it was fun to imagine guests whispering behind champagne glasses about Dr. Chase’s daughter arriving in a mustard yellow 1974 Chevy Malibu.

The Plaza Hotel was, at least, a perfect and dreamy venue. Annabeth had been there before, several times, but she still found herself overwhelmed as she looked up at the towering structure. There were several historic buildings of such magnitude in New York City, but there was something especially magical about one so central to the identity and history of the city.

Percy’s hand found Annabeth’s again as they stood on the sidewalk outside the door, people milling about, guests arriving, a buzz of excitement in the air. 

“Did you know this hotel was first built in 1883, but they tore the original down and rebuilt in 1905?” she asked him, her voice quiet with awe. “The second construction took over two years and cost over twelve million dollars – that’s not even adjusting for inflation. The architect, Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, designed _seven_ New York City landmarks, including this hotel, and that’s on top of his projects in the Hardenberg/Rhinelander Historic District. He has an entire historic district _named after him_. I can’t imagine having my name attached to one project so influential, let alone that many.

“The Beatles stayed _here_ on their first trip to the States,” she continued, the words pouring out of her practically unbidden as her own childlike excitement mounted, “and it was here they were awarded their first two gold records. Frank Lloyd Wright lived here for six years while he was overseeing the construction of the Guggenheim, too. God, just the sheer number of films that have featured this building is staggering – _North by Northwest, The Way We Were, Sleepless in Seattle_. World class stars, presidents, literal royalty have stayed in these suites.”

When she finally glanced at Percy, he was staring at her instead of the building before them, his eyes sparkling as he studied her with the same fascination she had been giving the hotel. “I didn’t know,” he admitted. “I never really paid much attention, honestly.”

Her face flushed with embarrassment. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” Percy shook his head, his lips pulling into a broad smile, “but let’s get ourselves inside. You can drag me back here to talk my ears off about old architects and which famous guys did what another day.”

“You’re going to regret making that offer,” Annabeth teased, letting him pull her past the door and into the hotel foyer. “I can talk for hours once I get started.”

“I’m really not,” he said quietly. His hand released hers, only to slip his arm around her waist as they made their way through the small number of people mulling about – a mix of other gala attendees and the hotel’s usual crowd of residents and guests. After a second Percy added, “Probably.”

Annabeth laughed, far too aware of where his hand rested on her hip. If he moved it just an inch higher, he’d be touching exposed skin. She found herself leaning into him, heart racing at how natural it felt to do so. Though she was fairly tall, and a pair of heels like the ones she wore now made her as tall as most men in a room, Percy maintained a slight physical advantage over her that she found oddly comforting. She didn’t need him to protect her, but she did enjoy feeling like he could.

“You losing confidence already?” she teased, her attention focused fully on him as they approached the event room where her father was being celebrated. Considering how she could easily spend an entire day just staring at the molding in the hotel’s ornate foyer, his holding her attention really was saying something. Inviting Percy had been a brilliant idea. Already this was the most fun she’d had at one of these things.

Percy turned his head toward her, their faces only inches apart, his smile on full, breathtaking display. “Only in my ability to focus for more than ten seconds. I’m infamous for falling asleep during lectures, the bane of the Psychology department.”

“Nothing has ever surprised me less,” Annabeth admitted, laughing with delight.

Percy played at being offended, but he did a poor job of containing his own smile. “How could you think so lowly of me, Annabeth?”

“Hmm, I wonder,” she said lightly, forcing herself to look away and begin assessing the budding party crowd. Before she could relax and fully enjoy herself, she’d need to find her father and say hello. He insisted on being seen together, friendly, a happy family.

The Grand Ballroom had been reserved in Fredrick Chase’s honor, a colossal, ostentatious space filled with white columns, two massive chandeliers and gold gilding everywhere the eye could see. Annabeth wasn’t sure if the award her father was receiving was really that impressive, or if his publisher had just decided to pull all the stops to celebrate the piles of money he’d made them over the years. Either way, she did kind of enjoy the idea of such a beautiful room being the backdrop for her first date with Percy, her first date ever.

As soon as a tray passed by, Percy had a flute of champagne in his free hand, his eyes scanning the crowd with the same vigilance as Annabeth. “I don’t think there’s anyone else under forty here, no wonder you needed back up.”

“Aside from my brothers, I’m usually the youngest person in the room,” she confirmed, her eyes finally locking on those very brothers. 

Matthew and Bobby. Dad’s pride and joy, though he hadn’t even been able to tell them apart until they were old enough to start developing their own styles and interests. They had gotten significantly taller than the last time she’d seen them, turning lanky and awkward. Though they’d inherited their mother’s complexion and black hair, they looked more like Fredrick Chase than Annabeth did. Her dad was there with them, wearing a winning smile, with his hand on Bobby’s shoulder. Their mother stood on Matthew’s other side, quiet and dignified, a doting wife and mother – only to her own boys, of course, never to Fredrick’s daughter.

Annabeth was about to lead Percy over to them when she noticed who her father had been speaking to and she froze in her tracks, all of the merriment Percy had inspired draining from her in and instant.

Percy sensed the sudden change in her, his arm tightening around her slightly. “Annabeth?”

No. He never came to events like this, not unless they were on the West Coast. She’d never even heard of him being in New York. For years she’d kept a whole continent between them, stayed away from her childhood home and family for the sole purpose of avoiding him. This was her city. He didn’t belong there. He belonged in a nightmare.

Some part of her mind saw Percy following her gaze across the room, confused, worried, on guard. His voice seemed distant even when he leaned in closer and asked, “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

She had seen a ghost, a ghost named Luke Castellan.


	22. Chapter 22

Piper might not have been headed for a high class gala that required hours of careful preparation, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to put effort into the way she looked before heading over to Jason’s place for the first time.

As she got herself dressed, touched up her makeup from earlier in the day, and tidied up her hair, Piper was a giant ball of nerves. Jason had spent most days since they started dating there at Piper’s apartment, so it seemed almost silly that she would be so anxious about finally going to his place. There were a few key differences between Piper’s apartment and Jason’s, though.

Firstly, Piper lived only with Annabeth. Annabeth was the closest thing Piper had to real family, yes, but living with only one other person meant bringing Jason over was less of a hassle, and once it had become clear Jason and Annabeth got along, spending time there was only natural. Jason, on the other hand, lived with four other people: his sister, Thalia; Thalia’s girlfriend, Reyna; his nephew (would probably never not be funny to Piper), Frank; and, more recently, family friend Nico di Angelo.

Secondly, Piper had brought home plenty of guys over the years she’d lived there with Annabeth and even occasionally when they’d lived in their dorm in high school, but that required a lot more sneaking. Bringing home guys was normal for her, expected. Jason had never brought a girl home before. Ever. It would be as big a deal to his family as it was to Jason and Piper themselves, maybe even bigger.

Thirdly, Piper still wasn’t sure what his family thought of her, or what Jason had told them about her. Annabeth liked Jason. They were obnoxiously similar. Piper would wake up in the morning and find the two of them sitting in the living room, drinking coffee, talking about the economic impacts of some new trade deal, research being done into groundbreaking cancer treatments, or something called quantum supremacy that made Piper’s head hurt just _hearing_ about – seriously, she didn’t understand how the two of them could know so much about so many things. There was no telling whether she’d be able to hold a conversation with Jason’s family, let alone get along with them so well.

“Shit,” Piper hissed as she darted around the living room, collecting her phone, keys, and a few other necessities to stuff into her purse, “we’re going to be late.”

“There’s no being late,” Jason assured her. He was calm, his laptop and books already neatly returned to his backpack after spending the last few hours studying while he waited for her to finish with Annabeth and get herself ready. “Thalia has a few things to finish up with at the bar before she comes home. We’ll probably beat her there.”

Piper paused at Jason’s mention of the bar – Club Jupiter, where Piper had met him and where his sister worked as a bartender. “Why does she work there, anyway?” 

Jason and Thalia’s dad owned half the news and media outlets in the country. Piper had, of course, never met him, but she knew he was a big, grumpy, paranoid man with more practical power than just about any politician anywhere and one of the largest fortunes in the world. While she understood not wanting to just waste the days away spending daddy’s money, because she herself fully intended to have a life and career of her own, working as a bartender seemed a little extreme.

An amused smile pulled at Jason’s lips, emphasizing that cute little scar of his. “Thalia doesn’t work at Club Jupiter, Pipes, she _owns_ it. She finds tending bar fun, so she works a few shifts a week, but most of what she does around there is managerial.”

“Huh,” Piper replied. That would explain it.

“Dad made her study business,” Jason continued to explain, a little bitterness in his voice – Piper knew their dad had also pushed Jason’s major on him, too, though she’d never been sure what he would have studied if he’d had his own choice. “He agreed to give her the money to start her own business when she graduated. She decided to open the club. He hates it, and so she loves it that much more.”

“He’s not… he’s not going to be there, is he?” Piper asked, stopping yet again to look at Jason.

“No,” Jason said firmly. “He’s got his own penthouse, but he’s not even there right now. Good old dad is down in Florida for the winter.”

With wife number _seven_ , Piper remembered. Jason’s mom had been wife number five. Frank was the grandson of wife number one. Thalia was Jason’s full sibling, but Jason had eight more half siblings and several other nieces and nephews. Piper was still upset about her dad’s upcoming marriage, and she had always been a little bitter over the fact he hadn’t been married to her mom, wondering if things might have turned out different if he had been, but at least this would be his first wife and Piper was his only kid so far. She couldn’t imagine how weird growing up had been for Jason.

“Well, at least I get to save that nightmare for another day, then,” Piper said, making Jason laugh. She draped her bag over her shoulder and gave a curt nod. “Ready when you are.”

They took an Uber to Jason’s apartment across town. Neither of them drove, which was actually becoming a mildly annoying issue, though Jason never seemed bothered by it. Piper was used to dating guys who had cars, but Jason had never even learned how to drive. She might need to take matters into her own hands soon, convince her dad she needed a car and ask Annabeth to teach her. Annabeth, of course, though never having had a car of her own, had gotten her license promptly at sixteen, because she was Annabeth.

“How many floors did you say your family owns?” Piper asked, looking up at the imposing tower they’d arrived at.

She was sure Annabeth would be able to spout a thousand facts about who had designed the tower, when it had been built, the exact number of rooms and apartments and why those numbers mattered. Piper just thought it looked intimidating. Her place with Annabeth was in a nice enough building, fairly modern, decent security. Just their single apartment had cost her dad a pretty penny, but had been a worthy investment. She couldn’t imagine the price tag on a place like this.

Jason sighed and threw his backpack over one shoulder. “I didn’t,” was his only response, which told Piper all she needed to know. They didn’t just own a few floors, Jason’s family owned the whole fucking building.

Something about his demeanor had changed since getting out of the car. Piper reached for his hand and laced their fingers together. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m not sure how to explain it,” he replied, furrowing his brow. “I’ll feel better once we’re inside, I think.”

Worry gnawed at Piper’s stomach, but she did her best to ignore it. All day she’d been nervous for herself, she hadn’t even considered the idea he might be dealing with insecurities, too. It was hard to imagine Jason being insecure about anything. He was so perfect, so together, and yet with every passing day she discovered something else that lurked under his pristine surface, eating away at what should have been unshakable confidence.

“Let’s go, then” she urged, giving his arm a little tug as she started toward the building.

The ride up took a ridiculously long time, hundreds of floors passed until they reached the one Jason’s (closest) family and assorted friends occupied. Jason had to put his key in just to access the elevator. Even to Piper, who’d run around with wealthy show offs her whole life, this experience was a little mind boggling.

Elevator doors opened straight into the apartment. A sleek, modern, open floor plan spanned hundreds of square feet. Her entire apartment, which was fairly large by New York standards, probably would have fit just in the space allotted for kitchen, dining room and living room. Hallways sprawled to the left and right, pointing toward several other rooms. Out a window at the back of the apartment was a breathtaking view of the city skyline. Once again, Piper couldn’t help thinking of Annabeth. She’d love this.

Piper immediately recognized Frank and Nico, seated on couches in the living room with video game controllers in hand, their eyes intent on a giant flat screen TV. It was one of the strangest sights Piper had ever seen: giant, bulky, baby-faced Frank hunched over, wearing a stern expression as he put his whole body into maneuvering the joystick on his controller and punching buttons; petite, bleary eyed Nico, appearing completely indifferent as he slouched against the back of the couch, barely moving aside from his thumbs manipulating his controller at inhuman speeds. 

“Hey, Jason! Hey, Piper!” Frank called without looking up. Nico didn’t say a word.

Jason seemed to relax a little, just as he’d expected. “Have the two of you moved at all since I left this morning?”

“No, they haven’t,” Reyna said, walking in from down the left wing hall. Her long hair was damp and draped over one shoulder. “I’ll be shocked if you can get them to stop playing that game long enough to eat dinner.”

“That won’t be a problem,” Jason said, walking further into the apartment and dumping his backpack on a kitchen counter, then continued in a much louder voice, “because Nico promised he’d give me at least an hour!”

“Uh-huh,” Nico responded, though he still didn’t look away from the screen.

“Sorry about them,” Reyna said, turning to Piper. “And sorry Thalia is running late. Their DJ canceled at the last minute and she’s been rushing to get someone to cover. It’s a whole thing.”

Piper was still processing everything around her, but she shook her head and turned her attention to Reyna. “Not a problem. Jason already told me we weren’t on any kind of timeline.”

“Yeah, and you’re about to lose him, too,” Reyna warned, nodding her head at Jason, who was already craning his neck to get a look at the TV and whatever game Frank and Nico were playing.

Jason snapped his head back toward the girls. “No, I’m good.”

Piper laughed and gave Jason a gentle little shove toward the living room. “Go ahead. I’m fine here.”

“You sure?” he asked, and Piper appreciated his hesitation but nodded. After a quick kiss on her cheek, Jason jogged over to the living room and plopped down on the couch between the other two guys.

“Welcome to my average Sunday night,” Reyna said, her voice a mix of exasperation and fondness. “Frank and Jason were always prone to wasting days away playing video games, but it got worse after Nico moved in. I’m not even sure how they manage to get any homework done.”

“Most of Jason’s time with me is spent on homework, actually,” Piper replied. “I thought it was just because he had a heavy course load, but apparently this is why?”

Reyna laughed. “Whatever image you had of Jason is probably going to shatter tonight. Can I get you a beer?”

“Please,” Piper said, taking a seat at the kitchen counter and settling herself in. Soon she and Reyna were seated together with their backs against the counter, each with a beer in hand and watching the boys. 

Reyna still intimidated Piper. Even if she’d never been Jason’s girlfriend, knowing Jason had once had a crush on this intense, formidable woman was hard to forget. Still, Piper didn’t want to be awkward around the people important to Jason, so after a few minutes of silent drinking, she decided to make conversation. “So, what do you do for a living?”

“I’m in human resources at one of the many magazines the Grace family owns,” she answered, her eyes alight with amusement as Frank and Jason started shouting at the screen. Jason wasn’t even playing, but he was fully invested. This was definitely a new side of him, but Piper found herself enjoying it. Reyna took another swig of beer and continued. “It’s boring as hell most of the time, but it has its perks.”

“What times is it not boring?” Piper asked, her curiosity peaked. It was hard to imagine Reyna in some stuffy corporate office.

Reyna grinned. “When I get to fire sexist, racist assholes and watch them beg to keep their jobs. The look in their eyes when they realize being a piece of shit has consequences is priceless.”

Piper laughed, suddenly able to imagine Reyna in her element a little more clearly. “I can’t say I blame you for enjoying that.”

“Jason said your major is communications, are you thinking of human resources too?” Reyna asked, turning her gaze from the boys across the apartment to Piper.

“No,” Piper replied with a shake of her head. “I’m leaning toward public relations. I’ve interned with the NYCLU’s media department the last couple summers and I’m thinking that’s the direction I want to head in, non-profit. It wouldn’t pay as well, but… well, I’ve got my dad to fall back on if need be, so I might as well try to make a difference.”

Reyna leaned back and regarded Piper with renewed interest. “I would have expected something a little more glamorous. Jason told us your dad was the famous Tristan McLean, so I’d assumed you’d be itching to head back to Hollywood once you finished school.”

It wasn’t the first time Piper had heard that and she doubted it would be the last, so she tried not to look too annoyed. “Absolutely not. The further I can stay away from that hot mess, the better.”

“Hot mess is certainly the right word for it,” Reyna agreed with a roll of her eyes. Jason had told Piper a few stories about his mother’s exploits as a daytime soap star. Considering Reyna had known the Grace siblings since they were kids, it wasn’t hard to imagine the things Reyna had seen and experienced with them over the years.

Before Piper could speak, Reyna’s phone dinged and she pulled it out of her pocket, scanning a text message. “Thalia,” she told Piper, then she shouted so the boys could hear her over the sound of gunfire in their game, “Thalia’s stopping at that Chinese place around the corner! Tell me what you want now, or you’re stuck with whatever she brings you!”

“Chicken!” Frank replied, and was quickly echoed by Jason and Nico agreeing with, “Yeah, Chicken’s good!”

Reyna looked at Piper. “I’m not the only one who thinks ‘chicken,’ is not a sufficiently detailed order when it comes to Chinese food, right? Because Thalia does this too.”

This, at least, was not a new experience for Piper where Jason was concerned. Usually when they ordered food, his answer when she asked what he wanted was something along the lines of, “Whatever you want,” or, “Noodles,” or, in one inexplicable instance, just, “Mashed potatoes.” If anything, asking for chicken was a big step up.

“No, you’re not the only one who thinks that,” Piper assured Reyna, shaking her head in exasperation.

Reyna was already typing away on her phone as she smiled. “What should I have Thalia get you?”

“Kung Pao Tofu, please. Maybe some spring rolls?” Piper replied. If she had the menu in front of her, she might have ordered something a little more adventurous, but she didn’t want to cause a hassle and knew most places had some form of the dish available.

“Okay,” Reyna said with a few more taps to her phone. She set her beer on the counter and turned to Piper, “Now, excuse me while I go extract the children from their game. Jason invited you to eat with _all_ of us, and I intended to make sure that happens. As an apology. For last time.”

“It’s already forgotten,” Piper assured her, though that was only half true. The event still weighed on Piper’s mind, but not for any of the reasons Reyna might have thought.

Before trudging over to the living room, Reyna flashed Piper a thankful smile.

Watching them from a distance was an interesting experience, and made Piper wonder about what they were like growing up together. Reyna commanded all three of them without hesitation and the boys reacted almost like kids being scolded by their mother. Piper knew a thing or two about absentee parents, and she knew it often became natural for one or two kids in groups like this to become a substitute parent of sorts, especially if they were a little older. Many times over the years, Piper had felt like Annabeth was that to her.

Maybe, she thought, that was why Annabeth had never trusted her with the truth of that fateful summer she’d changed forever. Piper always needed someone to reel her in when she got too crazy, to hold her back from being self destructive when she became angry, to ground her back in reality when her emotions got out of control. She had depended on Annabeth too much without giving back, and as a result left Annabeth isolated, alone. The thought made Piper want to slap herself.

Even as Annabeth faced a trip back home, was being forced to relive whatever trauma had been plaguing her all these years, she had still yet to confide in Piper. The last thing she wanted was to be rude and on her phone all night while meeting Jason’s family, but suddenly Piper was overcome with concern for her best friend. Events like the one Annabeth was attending that night were common, nothing out of the ordinary. There was no reason to worry. She pulled her phone out anyway, but when she brought up Annabeth’s text window, she had no idea what to say.

“Pipes?” Jason’s voice jolted her out of her thoughts. “Is something wrong?”

Piper hadn’t realized tears had started to roll down her cheeks, but she wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand found them wet. Jason, successfully extracted from the game by Reyna, stood in front of her, concern etched into his face.

“I’m not sure,” she admitted, trying to regain her composure and wipe the tears from her eyes before Jason’s family noticed. Piper didn’t want to look like an unhinged, emotional mess, even if she felt like one most of the time.

Jason reached out, taking her face in his hands and carefully dabbing at her cheeks and under her eyes with his thumbs. “Is it Annabeth?” When Piper nodded, Jason leaned in and pressed a kiss to Piper’s forehead. “If you need to go, it’s okay. We can do this another night.”

“No, it’s not– She hasn’t texted me or anything. I don’t need to go,” Piper assured him. “I just had a bad thought, and I guess a weird feeling. I’m worried about her. I’m always worried about her lately. Do you think I pushed her too hard with this Percy thing?”

“You know Annabeth better than I do,” Jason prefaced, his voice gentle, still holding her face between his hands, “but I really don’t think she’s the type to be pushed into anything, even by you. Maybe you helped her along, and maybe you pushed her a little. Maybe, though, she needed you to help. Maybe she wanted you to push.”

“How can you possibly think that?” Piper asked. It seemed ridiculous that Annabeth would ever need anything from her.

Jason smiled a little. “Because not too long ago, if you remember, my sister gave me a little helpful shove, and it was the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

It was the perfect thing to say and the worst of her concern slowly began to fade. “I really do owe her one for that,” she replied, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

“We both do,” Jason agreed, and kissed her. “You should send Annabeth a text if you’re worried, but then come on over to the living room.”

“I’ll be there in a minute,” she promised. Jason gave her one last kiss and then headed back over to plop down on the couch.

Piper thought she’d struggle with what to send again, but as soon as she looked at her phone the words came to her. 

_I’m proud of you for going out tonight. Enjoy yourself. Make sure to kick ass if anyone tries to get in your way._


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> leaving a little note at the beginning of this to warn that annabeth has a panic attack in the beginning of this chapter, so please proceed with caution if that's something potentially triggering to read about. ♥
> 
> also posting a little early because i felt bad leaving you all too long on that cliffhanger. 😩

Annabeth’s feet were moving before she knew what was happening, carrying her _away_. It didn’t matter where, as long as it wasn’t there. Percy was quick on her tail, calling after her, but she didn’t stop until she’d found a solitary nook down a hall and around a corner where she all but collapsed on a bench.

Her lungs fought for air and the world spun. A thin layer of cold sweat covered her. The speed with which her heart raced wasn’t the pleasant and exhilarating feeling she’d become familiar with over the last couple weeks – it was her body screaming a single word with all its might, several times a second: DANGER. Nausea rolled over her and she was thankful she hadn’t had time to eat since lunch, otherwise she might not have been able to keep herself from vomiting where she sat.

Percy was there, kneeling on the floor in front of her. His hands fluttered around her, but he didn’t touch, instead using his voice to try to get her attention, repeating her name in a hushed and gentle tone. She couldn’t focus on him. At some point he switched from her name to repeating a combination of, “Breathe. Just focus on breathing. You’re not alone. I’m right here,” and the words began to seep through her haze.

Painfully slowly, she started to respond to his encouragement. Breathing became easier, more even. While her heart rate remained elevated, it came down from the dangerous and painful height it had reached. She found one of Percy’s arms and she clung to him as if her life depended on it, grounding herself back in the present. His face was the last thing to come back into focus, his expression full of concern and barely contained distress.

“I’m here,” he said again, when he could tell her mind was beginning to clear.

A sob erupted from Annabeth’s chest and she pulled at his arm. In a second both Percy’s arms were around her, and she buried her face in his chest. It was just in time, because if he hadn’t been holding her she might have shaken completely apart.

“I’ve got you,” he whispered, his mouth pressed against the side of her head. “I’m not letting go.”

He was true to his word. Time ceased to matter as they sat there. The world beyond that dead ended hall disappeared – no party, no family, no Luke, no danger. Her world shrunk to just her next breath and the warmth of strong arms around her. It shouldn’t have been possible for Percy make her feel so safe, and yet she wouldn’t have felt any more secure if it had been Piper sitting there with her.

Percy must have secretly been psychic, because as soon as she had the thought he asked, “Do you want me to call Piper?”

Annabeth had calmed enough to feel stable pulling back, so she shook her head and took a look at him. His face was set in a determined, protective scowl, and his eyes immediately began to search her face, trying to anticipate what she might need. Annabeth remembered him saying he’d set the world on fire for her. He looked ready to do just that.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her hands dropping from where they rested on his chest and instantly moving to start wiping tears from her own face. Shame for losing her cool hit her almost as soon as her mind began to clear.

“Who is he?” Percy asked gently. Annabeth could feel the anger roiling just beneath his surface, but he did a decent job of keeping it at bay, his voice even. When she looked at him in confusion, not sure how he could know what had happened, he added, “You kept saying ‘he’ couldn’t be here.”

“Oh God,” she said, dabbing the back of her hand against her forehead and sniffling in a very unattractive way. She didn’t remember saying that out loud. How terribly embarrassing, and now she was in the horrible position of needing to explain herself. She decided to start with the easiest, least threatening detail. “One of my dad’s former students. Last I heard he was working as my dad’s assistant while he finished his doctorate. I’m not sure exactly what he’s doing now.”

Percy nodded. “Let’s get out of here, then. Are you okay for me to go get my car? I’ll te–”

“I want to stay,” she interrupted, though it was more like she _had_ to stay, at least if she wanted continued financial stability.

But part of her did _want_ to stay. She had intended to face Luke in a week back home, anyway. It would have been nice to have had a little more time to prepare herself. Annabeth had wanted to tell Piper her story, finally allow herself to be comforted, to hear words of support and encouragement. She’d imagined herself marching right up to that house in San Francisco, finding him there, unchanged from four and a half years before, and telling him to go to hell. This was the opposite of ideal, but she could work with it.

“You don’t have to do that to yourself,” he argued, very clearly disapproving of the idea of staying. She wondered how much he had discerned from her explanation, if the way he viewed her might be changing. That thought made her almost as sick as the initial panic had.

Annabeth was adamant, though, and becoming more so by the second. “I can handle it.”

A smile flickered across his lips. “I know you can, that’s not my point.”

“If I run away tonight, I’ll be running for the rest of my life,” she told him, resolute in her decision. “Seeing him caught me off guard, but I know he’s in there now. I’m staying.”

Percy looked like he wanted to argue, but he let out a sigh and reached for Annabeth’s hand. “Then let’s do this thing. What do you need?” he asked, his smile small and reluctant, but his eyes full of conspiratorial support.

This wasn’t what he signed up for. Percy had agreed to come out on a date, a _first_ date. He’d agreed to hobnobbing with some old geezers and keeping her entertained with actually stimulating conversation while she made a show of being a supportive daughter. Handling a meltdown and holding her hand through dealing with deep seeded trauma hadn’t been part of the agreement. It hadn’t even been in the fine print.

Still, he was there and ready for anything. Percy hadn’t hesitated when she’d needed him. Even after having a limited understanding of the situation they were walking into, he wasn’t turning tail and running. His support was, inexplicably, unconditional.

“Just one thing,” she said, waiting a couple heartbeats for him to begin asking what it was she needed, just so she could have the satisfaction of cutting him off. 

Annabeth’s hands gripped the lapels of Percy’s blazer and she pulled him toward her, covering his lips with her own and silencing the question still unspoken. For a second or two he was too stunned to move, but then his arms were wrapping around her and pulling her against him.

It was supposed to be quick, but once she got started Annabeth couldn’t stop herself. Her hands crept up over his shoulders and her arms wrapped around his neck. Their mouths fit together exquisitely, moving in perfect sync. She felt like she had been waiting for this her entire life, like a piece of her that had always been missing was beginning to settle into place. Kissing him didn’t make the world around her disappear, it _changed_ the world around her. The fog she’d been living in for as long as she could remember began to lift.

They were both breathless when they finally managed to pry themselves apart, but the good kind of breathless Annabeth wouldn’t mind being every day for the rest of her life. Percy’s lips were stained with her lipstick and pulled into a smile so sexy she almost went in for another round. Thankfully, she still had a small reserve of self control and instead reached up and began wiping the color off his lip with her thumb, laughing at how ridiculous she felt.

“You are massively vulnerable and I shouldn’t be taking advantage of it,” Percy said shaking his head and chuckling heavily, “but holy fuck, have I wanted to do that since the first time I laid eyes on you.”

Annabeth paused, looking at him flatly. “The first time you laid eyes on me? Really, Percy? Don’t exaggerate. I was intolerable the night we met.”

“I’m not exaggerating,” he insisted, a twinkle in his eye she didn’t quite understand. “And that night you were amazing. You’re hot when you’re all huffy and bossy.”

She couldn’t help laughing again, shoving his shoulder gently, but if she were honest with herself, the thought had been in her mind since that night, too. Percy didn’t need to know it, though. He was unbothered, tilting his head up to press his lips against her forehead before rejoining the laughter. They were both giddy, she realized, him just as much as she.

“At least now we have an excuse if anyone asks why we ran out,” he mused while Annabeth pulled the mirror and her lipstick out of that tiny purse Piper had forced on her and began fixing her smudged lips, dabbing at her eyes to try to salvage her eyeliner. They’d really succeeded in making a mess of Piper’s handiwork, between Annabeth’s tears and that kiss. Thankfully her waterproof mascara had held and Annabeth knew her best friend would be extremely happy about the lips, at least.

“I really hope no one saw me,” she said when she snapped her mirror shut and tucked it safely back in her purse.

Percy reached up, tucking a few flyaway curls behind her ears and then brushing his fingers against her cheek. The way his touch seared her skin was addictive, dangerous. If kissing him could change her world, and his lightest touch make her feel more alive, she shivered at the thought of what true intimacy with him might hold.

Mostly just to check the time, Annabeth pulled her phone out. She kicked herself mentally when she realized how long they’d been sitting there – surely her father was going to make a comment about her tardiness – but a text from Piper drew most of her attention. She read the message quickly and couldn’t help but laugh. When Percy looked at her in confusion, she held the screen up for him to read.

“She knew,” Annabeth said, full of wonder at her best friend’s obvious sixth sense. “I don’t know how, but she knew.”

“I guess it’s time to kick some ass,” Percy told her. “You have your orders, straight from the top.”

Annabeth nodded, tucked her phone away again, took Percy’s hand and stood. Much to her chagrin, her legs were a bit shaky, but she held tight to his hand and refused to let herself show any sign of weakness. “Let’s do this.”

“Let’s do this,” he agreed, and together they headed back toward the ball room where her family and past awaited.

Somewhere along the way his arm wound around her waist again, this time holding her a little closer, a little more firmly. The gesture was at once possessive and protective. It should have made her angry – she didn’t need someone to protect her and she definitely didn’t want to be _possessed_ – but it sent a thrill through her instead. Percy was quickly becoming the exception to every rule.

Once back in the hall, Annabeth grabbed a champagne flute and downed the liquid in a quick motion without tasting it, not the way one was meant to drink champagne, but a little alcohol would go a long way to steeling her nerves. 

“If you get drunk and kiss me again, I’m going to develop some kind of complex,” Percy whispered, his head dipped and lips brushing against her ear as he spoke.

Annabeth returned the empty flute to another passing tray. “I plan to be completely clear headed the next time I kiss you,” she assured him, “at least when the kissing starts.”

“It was a little debilitating, wasn’t it,” he agreed, his tone light despite the way his arm tightened around her. Knowing it wasn’t just her feeling that way was admittedly a relief.

“Annabeth!” her father called, having finally spotting her. He smiled at her with feigned affection, all show.

Despite her earlier confidence and the way she’d psyched herself up, Annabeth felt her pulse beginning to quicken again as they finally joined her family. Luke was still there, and Annabeth recognized the woman standing next to him as his fiance, although supposed by now she’d be his wife. She was pretty, petite, with dark hair and warm brown eyes. Annabeth’s arm slipped around Percy, drawing strength from his sturdy, warm presence. At least her step-mom had disappeared somewhere.

“We were just starting to worry something had happened to you, Sis. You’re not usually late,” Bobby said. Sweet, innocent Bobby, who’d always been so excited when Annabeth came home for the summers. Her bitterness over the way her father treated her had always tainted their relationship, but she thought she really would have loved Bobby (and Matthew, though he was never as interested in Annabeth as Bobby was) if she’d ever had a chance to know him properly.

“She got distracted out front,” Percy jumped in quickly, and even though she could feel how tense his body was, he spoke with easy friendliness, “started rambling about The Beatles and some old architect guys. I couldn’t bring myself to interrupt her. It was way too cute to resist.”

“And who is this, Annabeth?” her father asked, inclining his champagne flute toward Percy.

It was taking all her strength not to look at Luke. She could feel his eyes on her and she hated it. “Sorry, that was rude of me,” she told her father. “Dad, everyone, this is Percy Jackson. He’s my…” She fell short, not sure what to call him. Calling him a friend wouldn’t fool anyone, with the way they were clinging to each other, and it felt a little ridiculous to give him such a generic title after the way he had pulled her out of that panic attack, but she didn’t know what else to call him.

“Date,” Percy picked up for her, flashing her a tiny, teasing grin, “but I intend to make that something much more permanent in the near future, if Annabeth will have me.” He held his hand out to Fredrick, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”

Annabeth picked up the introductions from there, trying to ignore the way heat was spreading across her face – really, he didn’t need to be _so_ bold and genuine, all the time. “Percy, this is my dad, Doctor Fredrick Chase, and my brothers, Matthew and Robert,” she said, gesturing to each of the men in her family in turn. A hint of her nausea returned as she held her hand up to Luke, “This is one of my father’s former students and associates, Luke Castellan, and… well, I’m afraid I don’t think I’ve met…”

“Penelope,” Luke said, an insincere smile plastered on his face, as he looked from Annabeth to the woman beside him, “my wife.”

Percy shook hands all around, maintaining his composure even as Luke extended his.

“So,” Fredrick began, his eyes studying his daughter, “how did you kids meet?”

“I TA for her Monday and Friday swim class,” Percy answered, tucking his free hand into a pocket once he’d finished shaking hands.

Fredrick raised his eyebrows, sending a pointed look at Annabeth. “That doesn’t sound very appropriate, Annabeth.”

She wanted to laugh. Or be sick. Probably both. Her dad had no idea about _appropriate_. 

“That’s not entirely true,” she was quick to amend, shooting Percy a chastising look. Considering the fact that their class was academically inconsequential it was unlikely they’d get in trouble for pursuing a relationship, but that still didn’t mean running around blabbing about it was a great idea. “We met before classes started and only ran into each other again there. The class is pass/fail, based entirely on attendance. The most authority Percy has over me is telling me when to switch between butterfly and breaststroke for the ideal workout.”

“She’s right about that,” Percy conceded. “I’m a glorified drill sergeant, but it’ll look nice on resumes.”

“How long have you known each other?” Luke asked, making Annabeth flinch. She was doing her best not to look at him because she didn’t like the way he was staring, his eyes raking her body over and over again, as if remembering all the places he’d been. If she’d known he’d be there, she wouldn’t have agreed to a dress with so much exposure.

“Two weeks?” Percy replied, and his voice was quickly developing a slight edge. He’d noticed the way Luke was looking at her too. “How long have you known Annabeth, Luke?”

“Oh, Annabeth was probably about eleven when you started school, wasn’t she?” Fredrick asked, looking at Luke for confirmation.

Luke nodded, though his gaze had turned to Percy, assessing the other man for the first time. “That sounds about right. It’s been a few years since I’ve seen her, though.”

“I can’t believe we’ve never met,” Penelope said with a laugh. 

Annabeth couldn’t help feeling bad for the woman, so she did her best to stay friendly. “Our wires must’ve just always been crossed. I was usually away at boarding school most of the year growing up.”

“That explains it,” Penelope decided with a smile. “I was usually only in San Francisco during the school years, and then I moved back home for a while after finishing my degree, until Luke and I got married.”

“That would probably explain it,” Annabeth agreed, though she knew there was more to it. Luke had purposefully avoided letting them meet, at least in the last summer or two Annabeth had been home. Her fingers curling into Percy’s blazer, she finally turned her attention to Luke and said, “I’m surprised to see you here. You’ve never come to Dad’s events in the city before.”

“Luke is featuring in the profile they’re doing on me next weekend,” Fredrick explained, shining with pride – though whether for Luke or himself, Annabeth wasn’t sure. “It only felt right to have him here by my side tonight, after all the hard work he’s put in over the years.”

“I know you from somewhere,” Luke said, his eyes still on Percy, apparently not interested in Fredrick’s praise for the moment.

Percy continued to speak with a thinly veiled razor in his voice. “I do a little competitive swimming, made a few appearances on morning talk shows last summer after Nationals. If you watch those kinds of things, you probably saw me there.”

Fredrick seemed to find this impressive, Annabeth practically seeing his opinion of Percy being reevaluated in real time. Of course, Annabeth thought, he’d be eager for mooch off any bit of celebrity Percy could offer. He’d always tried to use any connection possible to climb social and professional ladders, that was why Tristan McLean couldn’t stand him. “Must swim well if they wanted you on TV,” he commented.

“Won a few events. It was my first time at that level, probably just beginner’s luck,” Percy said with a shrug, and Annabeth sensed the topic, the attention, was already making him uncomfortable.

“Annabeth will be coming back to San Francisco next weekend. You’re welcome to tag along,” Fredrick offered, his eyes alight with possibilities that made Annabeth’s blood boil. She hadn’t brought Percy along for her dad to use him. She hadn’t even considered Percy would be someone who could be used. “We could make room for you at the house,” he continued, then glanced between Annabeth and Percy, “if that’s necessary.”

A minute ago he’d been scolding Annabeth about what was appropriate and now he was throwing her into bed with Percy. The sneer on Luke’s face only made rage boil higher inside her. She could almost hear his thoughts, how funny the idea of her new man with her back at that house in San Francisco, in all the places he’d had her first, was. It made her feel dirty, ashamed, even though she knew Luke was the one who should be feeling those things instead.

“Whoa!” Bobby shouted, startling all of them. Annabeth noted her father seemed especially displeased by the outburst, but didn’t bother scolding his son as Bobby continued, “I thought you looked familiar too. My girlfriend has a picture of you up in her bedroom! Dude, that’s so cool!”

Many thoughts went through Annabeth’s mind in quick succession. Primarily her questions were: Bobby has a _girlfriend_? Girls have pictures of _Percy_ on their bedroom walls? Bobby finds this _cool_?

Percy also didn’t seem to know how to handle the information, because he stuttered an awkward, “Oh, yeah, cool,” in response while everyone continued to stare at Bobby in a united state of confusion.

“Man, she’s not going to believe this,” Bobby said, punching Matthew on the shoulder with much more force than was probably necessary. Matthew didn’t look bothered by it, and Annabeth got the impression he was used to that kind of thing. “Could I get a picture? And an autograph?”

“Robert,” Fredrick quickly chided, apparently deciding this was where he drew the line. “Percy is your sister’s guest, not here to sign autographs.”

For a second Bobby faltered, shame creeping up on his face, but Percy quickly jumped in, recovered from his initial shock. “No, no, it’s cool. I don’t mind.” He gave Annabeth a little squeeze around the waist before pulling away to stand with Bobby. A second later Bobby’s phone was out and they started the process of taking pictures, Matthew joining in.

The attention was clearly still uncomfortable for Percy, but he did his best to seem excited for Bobby’s sake, posing and smiling with ease. A smile crept onto Annabeth’s face as she watched him, reviewing the pictures and then agreeing to take some more, asking Bobby about his girlfriend (who was named Jessica, really smart, and on their high school’s swim team). There was a kindness in the way he approached the situation, putting aside his own comfort just to make the night of a teenage guy he’d never met before. Annabeth felt it wasn’t just because Bobby was her brother – Percy would have made the same choice even if Bobby were some random kid on the street.

With her focus on Percy, she only half heard Penelope excuse herself to take a call, only barely registered her father’s attention being stolen by some old fogy in a bow tie, and definitely didn’t notice Luke come around to stand next to her until he spoke, quietly, so only she could hear, “I’m looking forward to seeing you back home next week.”

Annabeth’s blood turned to ice in her veins and the budding smile on her lips disappeared. Her hands wrapped around the thin strap of her little purse, knuckles turning white. She kept her eyes on Percy, trying to keep her panic at bay, but he was too focused on Bobby to notice Luke had approached her. When she didn’t say anything, Luke continued. “You’ve… changed over the last few years. I’ve missed you.”

A few more seconds passed and Percy finally noticed how close Luke was standing to Annabeth. He caught her eye and asked a silent question, _Are you okay?_ All she’d have to do was shake her head and she knew he’d be there, but she’d told him she could do this, and she was intent on it. If she didn’t, she’d never be able to handle the trip home, and she’d be stuck in this hell forever.

Her resolve was no longer inspired by her desire to pursue a relationship with Percy, though. The events of the last hour had burned away all her doubts where he was concerned. Even if she couldn’t handle this, even if she couldn’t face Luke or go home, she knew she could at least begin to open herself up to Percy. She felt safe with him, comfortable and secure, and she didn’t think that would change. This was something she needed to do for herself, and probably had been all along. Percy had just been the push she’d needed to finally gather her own strength.

Annabeth sent Percy a subtle but confident nod. Concern still raged behind his eyes, but his lips pulled into a lopsided smile and he returned his full attention to Bobby.

“I have changed over the last few years,” she said, speaking only for Luke to hear, but keeping her eyes on Percy and her half brothers. “You haven’t changed at all, though. I used to think you were sweet, you know, thoughtful, mature. I genuinely believed you cared about me. Now I see you’ve always been an immature, egotistical prick, and the only person you’ve ever thought about is yourself. Shouldn’t your attention be on your wife right now, Luke?”

Luke bristled and Annabeth saw him reach for a glass of champagne off a passing tray. “That boy of yours seems to be working hard for your attention,” he said after taking a long drink, his voice now dripping with vitriol. “I wonder what he’d think if he found out how easy you used to be.”

She almost broke then, his words hitting her right where it hurt most. Her knees went a little wobbly, the glass of champagne she’d had earlier threatening to return to the world, but she took a deep breath and found her voice. “I seem to remember you doing plenty of work.”

“I just cared about my mentor’s daughter, took an interest in her education,” Luke replied, and the nonchalance in his voice would have made Annabeth think he actually believed what he was saying if she didn’t know better. “But whatever helps you sleep at night, Annabeth. You’re right, I should check on my wife. Now she was a woman worth pursuing.”

The incredulousness of it was almost laughable, but Luke disappeared into the crowd before she could formulate anything else to say.

Percy was there in an instant, his hands coming to rest on her hips and his eyes searching her face fervently. “You kicked ass,” he said, voice barely above a whisper but full of pride, even though he couldn’t have heard a word that was said.

“Maybe, a little,” she agreed, the realization slowly dawning on her. After four and a half years, she’d finally faced Luke, if only for a couple minutes. It was terrible and nauseating and she hated him now more than ever, but she had done it. The greatest hurdle had been cleared and she’d come out on the other side intact.

“Now let’s get some food in you, you stunning, magnificent woman, you,” he said, “because you’re paler than a corpse and I’m starting to worry you might actually pass out on me.” Percy slipped his hand into hers and together they waded into the mass of strange, old people, both intent on salvaging what they could of their unfortunate first date.


	24. Chapter 24

The first few minutes assembled in the living room were so awkward Piper thought she might scream. Then Thalia arrived with their food and everyone instantly relaxed. Their orders were handed out, everyone made themselves comfortable, and conversation naturally followed.

“Piper, did Jason tell you our mom got the role in _Fury and Family_?” Thalia asked, her mouth half full of chow mien. She sat on the floor in front of the TV, leaned against Reyna. In the comfort of her own home, Thalia was wearing a baggy, black tank top with the logo of a band Piper had never heard of printed on it, baring her arms and the elaborate tattoo sleeves decorating them. Piper wanted to get a closer look, but figured that would have to wait until they knew each other a little better.

“Oh god,” Piper groaned. “No, he didn’t. I assume he filled you in about Annabeth’s dad?”

“He definitely did,” Thalia confirmed, laughing. “This absolute nightmare will now unify our households. We’ll need to have weekly viewing parties once it starts airing.”

“With copious amounts of alcohol,” Reyna interjected. “I’m going to need to be very drunk if I have to see your mom naked, and even then I may have to vomit.”

Frank paused with chopsticks halfway to his mouth. “N-naked?”

The whole room laughed, even, much to Piper’s surprise, Nico. He still wasn’t talking much, but he was sitting up now, eating his orange chicken with more gusto than she would have expected. The guy looked like he barely ate anything, but when Thalia had handed out their food, Nico had gotten two servings of chicken.

“Those books have a sex scene like every ten pages,” Piper explained. At one point, as curious thirteen year olds, Piper and Annabeth had decided to read one of them. It had been horrifying and they had been giggly messes the whole time they tried to get through it. “Fred tries to act like they’re distinguished and poignant works of literature, and I’m sure there’s great stuff in there, but they’re basically just well dressed smut. And, don’t get me wrong, I enjoy some good smut as much as the next girl–” Jason choked on his chicken when she said this, but she continued without missing a beat, “–but that jackass really thinks he’s God’s gift to historical fiction and shit talks rom-coms and romance novels _constantly_ , like his work is _so_ much better.”

Thalia almost fell over laughing at Jason, his entire face turned a bright shade of red. “He didn’t flinch at the comment about our mom being naked, but this turns him into a tomato,” she said with some difficulty, her loud and joyous laughter only making her brother blush harder.

“Does Jason even know what smut is?” Nico asked, making Piper do a double take. A very subdued smile pulled at his lips, but his eyes were overflowing with mirth. Piper got the feeling that was his equivalent to Thalia’s hysterics.

“Do you?” Jason challenged, not shying away from the fight even as he turned impossibly redder.

Nico continued to surprise Piper by meeting the challenge without flinching. “Yeah, I do.”

“I’m all for torturing Jason, but please, you’re going to make poor Frank faint,” Reyna interrupted, trying to contain her own laughter, shoulders shaking.

Frank wasn’t as red as Jason, but there was a definite blush on his cheeks. “I think I’ll pass on the viewing party,” he said, unable to make eye contact with any of them.

“If Frank gets to pass, so do I,” Nico said.

“No way,” Thalia instantly objected. “Frank gets a pass because, technically, at one point, our mom was his grandma. You don’t have that excuse. You suffer with the rest of us.”

“Plus,” Reyna said, a teasing tone in her voice, her beer a few inches from her lips, “if the rumors about who they’ve cast in the role opposite her are true, I don’t think you’re going to want to miss it.”

Nico didn’t turn red, but his eyes bulged and his face paled slightly. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said blankly.

“You don’t sound so confident about smut now,” Jason said, much too pleased with himself for someone whose head had almost just exploded at the sheer mention of the word.

“Really, Jason? You think it’s a good idea to keep pulling at that string? You were almost home free, subject changed,” Piper asked, turning to look at her boyfriend. She was curled against him on the couch and she sent him an unspoken, teasing threat. He was in touching distance, and she was not afraid to resume embarrassing him – at least as far as she knew he could handle.

“I think I really like her,” Reyna told Thalia in a stage whisper.

“Me too,” Nico agreed.

“If we’re taking a poll, me too,” Frank chimed in.

Jason returned Piper’s gaze, pretending to be pained. “Bringing you here was a big mistake. I’m absolutely overflowing with regret,” he teased back, and leaned in to kiss her, but Piper pulled back, her nose wrinkled.

“Yuck, your breath smells like chicken,” she complained, pushing his face away with a very gentle shove. This time when everyone laughed, Jason joined them.

Thalia raised a hand, calling for everyone’s attention. “I would like it noted, this,” she said, waving her hand in Jason and Piper’s direction, “was my doing. From now on, whenever I tell one of you to make a move, you’re required to follow instruction without complaint.”

Piper laughed as the other four erupted in a string of objections, Reyna loudest of all with an indignant, “Excuse me!”

“I said what I said,” Thalia replied, taunting her girlfriend particularly. “You’re required to defer to my clearly superior judgment.”

“Fuck you,” Reyna practically growled.

“By all means, please do,” Thalia told her happily, and a second later the two were kissing.

Most of the group politely averted their eyes to allow the couple some privacy, but Jason threw his head back and sighed. “God, they’re gross,” he lamented. 

Piper enjoyed this side of him, the whiny little brother, comfortable, completely human. “Felling left out, chicken breath?” she asked quietly.

“Yes,” he replied, turning to look at her with his bottom lip curled into a pout.

“Hmmm, isn’t that just too bad?” she said, frowning as she reached up to pat his cheek. “You poor, chicken eating boy.”

Jason smiled again, heaving a heavy sigh. Sometimes, when he looked at her the way he was now, it was hard for her to believe that kind of love and affection could be meant for her. Piper had half a mind to just suffer through the taste of chicken. “Have you heard back from Annabeth?” he asked.

“No,” Piper replied with a small shake of her head. “I’m sure she’s fine, though. At least she’s got –” she caught herself, eyes flickering over to where Reyna and Thalia sat. They were still occupied, but Piper decided not to tempt fate. “At least I know she’s not alone.”

“Where is Annabeth tonight?” Frank asked, looking up from his food. Piper noted with surprise that he seemed the least bothered by the very intense display of affection between Thalia and Reyna, which was now dragging on so much it was beginning to make even Piper feel a little warm in the face. Jason had told Piper the two of them had been together more or less since they were teenagers. The idea of remaining so full of passion after so many years was fascinating, hard for her to imagine.

“Her dad’s getting some award thing tonight and they’re throwing him a big party,” Piper told him. A natural level of annoyance seeped into her voice at the mention of Fredrick Chase, but she spared Frank anymore discussion about the (supposedly) acclaimed author. 

Frank nodded. “She seemed out of it on Friday. Hazel and I were talking about it after class. We were a little worried, but she’s better now?”

“Mostly,” Piper assured him. Though she didn’t say anything, she and Jason exchanged a curious glance at the casual mention of Hazel. “She has a lot going on, but she should be back to normal by tomorrow.”

“Good,” he replied, grinning. “It was weird when we asked her what her plans for the weekend were and she told us her favorite kind of pencil.”

“She has a favorite kind of pencil?” Nico asked. “Aren’t all pencils the same?”

Piper quickly shook her head. “You really, really don’t want to know. There’s a whole ranking system.”

Thalia and Reyna finally pried themselves away from each other, breathless, with matching grins of contentment on their faces. “Sounds like something Jason would do, honestly,” Thalia said, returning to her meal as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

“Her system makes a lot of sense, actually,” Jason said, confirming what his sister had clearly meant to be a joke.

“Jason, I was kidding. You’re a dork,” Thalia told him.

Reyna smacked Thalia on the arm. “If Jason’s a dork, so is Piper’s friend.”

“Yeah,” Thalia agreed. “She sounds like a big dork. Dorks are cute.”

“She’s in your swim class, right, Frank?” Nico asked, once again slumped back in his seat the way he’d been when Piper had arrived. “That’s why Percy showed up at the party last week.”

Tension suddenly filled the air. Piper had been trying to avoid even saying it in a whisper to Jason, but now Percy Jackson’s name hung heavily over the group, each one of them wearing a slightly different expression in response – Nico looked pained, Reyna angry, Thalia worried, Frank awkward, Jason tense.

“I, uh, I dunno,” Frank replied, his eyes darting between Reyna and Nico. “I mean, yeah, she’s in my class, but I don’t know why… I think he was there because Hazel… was…”

“I don’t know how Hazel can stand to be around him,” Reyna muttered, draining the last of her beer.

“She has her reasons,” Nico said, his voice distant and just as pained as he looked.

“It was both,” Jason offered up, surprising Piper. He was looking at Nico, his eyes sad, a hint of pity in them. Piper reached out and took Jason’s hand, giving it a supportive squeeze. She didn’t understand exactly what was going on, but she was beginning to have a few ideas, beginning to understand the complex relationships and feelings that tied Percy Jackson and Jason’s loved ones together. “He was worried about Hazel, but he wanted to see Annabeth, too.”

For a few seconds everyone was silent, then Nico stood. “I’m going to head to bed. It was nice seeing you, Piper.”

“You too,” Piper replied, putting warmth into her voice.

“Yeah, I think I’m going to call it a night too,” Reyna said, climbing to her feet. “You guys have fun.”

Thalia flashed Jason an apologetic look and quickly followed after her girlfriend, leaving just Jason, Piper, and Frank in the living room.

“I screwed everything up, didn’t I?” Frank asked, a grimace on his face.

“No,” Jason said, firm and insistent. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Frank. It was bound to come up one way or another.”

“Sure,” Frank replied, unconvinced. For a few seconds he rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes locked on the floor in front of him, then he got to his feet. “I hope you’ll come by more often, Piper. It’s really fun having you here.”

“Thanks, Frank,” Piper replied, squeezing Jason’s hand once again, this time because she needed to borrow a little strength from him instead. “You should reconsider coming to those viewing parties, by the way. I promise I’ll cover your eyes when something unsavory is about to happen.”

A little smile crept its way onto Frank’s face and he shrugged. “I’ll think about it.”

With a few small waves exchanged, Jason and Piper were alone. “Well, it wasn’t a complete disaster this time,” Jason said, rolling his eyes. “I didn’t get my full hour, though.”

Piper snuggled down, laying her head on Jason’s shoulder. “We’re going to be in quite a pickle soon, aren’t we?”

His arm wrapped around her shoulders. “It might be tricky, but we’ll figure it out. If Percy really is that good for Annabeth, we’ll have to, right? Maybe that stupid show will be our saving grace and manage to ‘unite our households,’ as Thalia put it.”

“Saving grace?” Piper asked, her lips pressed into a thin line as she tried not to burst into laughter. “Really? Saving _Grace_?”

Jason fell silent, letting the seconds tick by, and then he pulled himself away from Piper and stood. “I’m going to sleep now, too. Forever.”

Her control broke and Piper laughed, watching him slowly trudge toward the far hall. She bounced to her feet and chased after him, slipping her arms around his waist and pressing her face into his back. “You can’t sleep forever, because your true love’s kiss is already right here,” she said, unable to believe she was saying something so grossly cheesy without puking. Jason was turning her into an absolute monster.

“Not if I don’t brush my teeth. Chicken breath will protect me,” he replied, though he sounded very pleased with her cheesiness.

“Gross,” she mumbled as he turned and opened a door, leading them into his room. “That’s fine. You’ll be asleep, so I can just brush your teeth for you first.”

“You’re just full of clever solutions tonight, aren’t you?” Jason asked, turning in her embrace to wrap his arms back around her once they were safely behind a closed door.

“Excuse you, I’m full of clever solutions all the time.”

Jason narrowed his eyes. “I’m not sure about that one.”

Piper pushed him away, smiling. Even being teasingly angry at him was difficult considering where they now stood. This was his room. That was his bed. They were in his territory. “Go brush your teeth before I give up and ditch you for the night,” she told him, her heart pounding.

“Where would you go?” Jason asked in a challenge, though he wasted no time in crossing to another door in the room and disappearing into what she assumed was his bathroom. A few seconds later he reappeared with a toothbrush in his mouth, making a show of following her instructions.

“Home, all alone, terribly dissatisfied,” she answered, making a show of circling his room in return. It was neat and tidy, everything secured in the proper place. A few academic awards were scattered around, side by side with athletic awards and photos from various high school teams – football, basketball, baseball. He really was the All American Boy.

“I’d hate for you to be dissatisfied,” he said heavily, though some of the drama was lost from the muffled way he spoke around his toothbrush. Jason disappeared back into the bathroom, there was the sound of the faucet running, and when he returned he was wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “You know, I was thinking…”

Piper settled herself on the corner of his bed, watching him. “And what were you thinking this time?”

“Well, we’re here, alone in my room… we’ve got the whole night to kill… maybe, maybe we could…” Jason’s voice drifted off as he leaned against the door frame. A hint of his earlier redness had returned. God, he was adorable.

“Jason,” Piper said, her stomach full of butterflies and heat creeping through her veins, “I’m very excited about what you’re proposing right now, but… are you sure you want to take that step while we’re only a wall or two away from your family, where we’d have to be extremely quiet or risk you being teased profusely for the rest of your life? Because, personally, I’d much rather be able to enjoy every little sound you make to the fullest.”

They fell silent, Jason’s breathing uneven and his bright blue eyes sparking with dangerous electricity. She was already regretting her own words, finding it difficult to sit still as he studied her. Spontaneous combustion seemed a very likely outcome.

A month ago she would have thought this an absolutely unbelievable situation. She was seated on the bed of a man she loved, the most stunning, sexy, adorable man she’d ever known. There was nothing she had ever wanted more than she wanted him. Her body and soul cried out for him in perfect unison. And she was trying to talk him _out of_ having sex that night.

“And,” she continued, her tongue wetting her lips, “since Annabeth is going to be gone next weekend, we’d have the apartment all to ourselves, the whole weekend. No one to walk in on us, no one around to hear a thing. 

“But, this is your first time, not mine, so whatever you decide, I’m, very, very much in,” she concluded.

Jason closed the short distance between them, leaned over her, took her face in his hands and kissed her. 

Stupid, stupid, Piper. The instant his lips were on her she felt like she would lose every ounce of control she’d thought she had. His lips crushed hers. His mouth tasted like the cinnamon in his toothpaste. There was a desperate desire in him that she’d felt to a much smaller degree from the first time he kissed her, but now was unleashed, threatening to overwhelm her. 

Everything was up to him now, because if she were given a choice again, she would choose to have him right then and there and she wouldn’t give a single fuck about being quiet or holding back. Even just as he kissed her, her fingers curled into his shirt like she was holding on for her very life, a low, whiny moan sounding in the back of her throat.

Too soon, he pulled away. They both struggled to breathe. The room spun.

“Friday,” Jason said, the word taunting her, making her want to scream in frustration. It was her own dumb idea, and before long, when her head was clear, she knew it would make sense again, but damn, did she hate that stupid word in the moment.

“Friday,” she agreed, and then she pulled him in for another kiss. They might have decided to put off the main event, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy the opening act a little longer.


	25. Chapter 25

Annabeth’s evening was, overall, not completely terrible. When she focused solely on Percy, it was down right wonderful. They ate, danced, whispered, laughed, took every excuse to touch each other and made up excuses when it felt like it had been too long since the last opportunity. 

She listened as Percy talked with Bobby and Matthew, genuinely invested in their conversations. Her relationship with her brothers had always been an unfortunate casualty of her refusal to go home and strained relationship with their father. Over the course of a single evening she learned more about the twins than she had over the last four years, maybe even her whole life. She’d been a terrible sister. The more she listened to them, the more she wanted to change that.

The one glaring dark spot was the way Luke seemed to orbit Annabeth, a predator waiting for the chance to strike. His chance never came. Any time he noticed Luke’s eyes on them, Percy would make an intentionally blatant show. He would lean in as if to whisper something to her, only to brush his lips against her ear. His fingers fluttered over the exposed skin at her sides. A few times he just kissed her, long, slow and dizzying. Annabeth decided those kisses didn’t count against her earlier promise to him, because he was the one initiating them. Also, she couldn’t get enough of them and kind of just didn’t care.

At first Annabeth found those displays a little primitive, as much as she admittedly liked them. She wasn’t property that needed to be marked. They weren’t even an actual couple. This was their first date. The longer she thought about it, though, the more she realized she would be acting just the same were their positions switched. If anything, she might have been even more brazen. She should have been scared by the growing intensity of what she felt, but instead of afraid she felt liberated.

Eventually speeches were made. Fredrick Chase played the humble award recipient to a T. Pictures were taken, capturing the lie of a happy, supportive family they had all spent years cultivating. Annabeth said polite goodbyes to her family as the night began to wind down. Bobby and Matthew seemed excited about her trip home the following weekend, and she did her best not to discourage them by showing her own reservations. Those reservations had nothing to do with the twins.

Percy shook Fredrick’s hand. The invitation for him to join Annabeth on her trip home was repeated. Annabeth gave her father a firm, “We’ll think about it,” to avoid confrontation in the moment, but she’d already made up her mind. Percy would not be joining her in San Francisco. Taking a trip together after so short a time would be madness under the best of circumstances, like Tristan’s upcoming wedding, but there was more to Annabeth’s resolve. That was a trip she needed to make on her own, for herself.

For a brief, wonderful moment she thought they would get out of there without seeing Luke again, but Luke and Penelope were in the lobby waiting for a car when Annabeth and Percy were on their way out. 

“It was lovely to finally meet you!” Penelope chimed, jarring Annabeth by enveloping her in a warm, affectionate hug.

“Y-you too,” Annabeth managed, overcome with guilt. A voice screamed in the back of Annabeth’s mind that she needed to tell this poor woman the truth about her husband, but she couldn’t even begin to think of how to go about it.

“Percy,” Luke said, holding his hand out. The two of them shook, staring daggers at each other. “Take care of our girl for me, will you? I worry about her, out here on her own.”

“There’s no reason for you to worry, Luke. Annabeth is perfectly capable of taking care of herself,” Percy replied, his eyes sharp and voice tense.

Rage rolled off him in massive, violent waves as the two men continued to shake long past what should have been appropriate. Even Penelope seemed to pick up on the tension between them, confusion fluttering over her features. They very well might have remained in that stand off forever, but Annabeth finally wrapped an arm around Percy and said, “We should get going. It’s getting late and we have an early class in the morning.”

Only when they were outside, waiting for the valet to bring Bessie around, did Percy’s jaw begin to unclench. “I should have hit him,” he muttered, running his hands through his hair. His breathing was uneven and he couldn’t quite stand still. Annabeth gave him space, letting him work through his anger. After the show he’d put on for her all evening, the way he’d restrained himself and supported her, he deserved the time to deal with his own emotions.

That anger was on her behalf, too. Annabeth found it difficult to believe. Percy hardly knew her. She should have thought the depth of his emotion was crazy, but instead she was blown away that anyone could feel so much for her. It left her wondering how much deeper his feelings could go and the possibilities thrilled far more than they frightened her. She was probably losing her mind.

Arms dropping to his sides, he tilted his head toward Annabeth, and she was glad to see the ghost of a smile back on his face. “Too bad,” he said. “We could have gone two for two parties ended in a punch.”

Annabeth couldn’t help laughing. “Yeah, what a shame. That’s exactly the kind of precedent I want to set.”

The valet arrived with Bessie and Percy opened Annabeth’s door for her, his eyes still churning with conflict. She brushed her hand against his face before she stepped inside, her smile soft and affectionate. “Thank you,” she told him, though she didn’t just mean for opening the door.

They rode in silence for a few minutes. The worst of Percy’s anger seemed to have faded, but his knuckles were still white from how tightly he held the steering wheel. Annabeth felt like she was coming down from a very strange high. After so many years of burying her emotions, they had all come to the surface at once. Fear, anger, sadness and shame threatened to crush her, but they were held at bay by each and every wonderful thing Percy made her feel: giddiness whenever he smiled, the rush of heat when he kissed or touched her, hopefulness at what the future had in store, and just plain, simple happiness.

“Annabeth,” Percy started, his voice soft despite the way his hands continued to grip the wheel. He seemed to wrestle with what he wanted to say, but finally gave in. “What… What exactly did he do to you?”

She’d known the question would come. It was only natural for him to want to know, and after all Percy had done for her over the course of the evening, she felt like he had earned an honest answer. “It’s not… not exactly what you might be thinking,” she began, hating the weakness in her voice. Unable to look at Percy, her gaze stayed firmly out the window, watching the city pass slowly as they moved from intersection to intersection. “He never forced himself on me. I was eighteen.”

Percy laughed without humor, seeming to understand the gist of it from her bare bones answer. “Of course you were,” he replied, voice tight. “And he was, what? Twenty five?”

“Yeah,” she confirmed, so quiet she wasn’t even sure Percy could hear her.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw him run a hand through his hair again, the careful style he’d been sporting all night now all but returned to its usual charming mess. “God, I shouldn’t have… I should have stopped you when you… and then I just kept doing it, like a total slime ball. I knew it was wrong and I just kept on…”

Annabeth smiled, finally turning to look at him. His brow was furrowed, his eyes raging like hurricanes, but the anger he displayed now was aimed inward. Being critical of himself was understandable, though she didn’t want him to be. She had no regrets about their evening, at least not when it came to him.

“I would have kissed you tonight whether Luke had been there or not,” she told him, wanting to reach out and touch him but thinking better of it. “And I would have told you about him before leaving next weekend. Things got… jumbled, messy, but we would have ended up in all the same positions sooner, rather than later, anyway.”

“You don’t strike me as the kind of person who likes messy and jumbled,” Percy said. Annabeth wasn’t sure what to make of his tone, fear bubbling in her chest. If she’d ruined this, whatever it was, whatever it might become, she didn’t think she would be able to handle it. One good thing had finally come along and she had screwed it up before it could even really get started.

“I’m usually not,” she admitted. Everything in her life had been carefully planned. The perfect, dreamlike romance she’d imagined having with Luke had seemed neat and tidy at the time, and that had turned into a disaster. None of it ever made her truly happy. Most of it hadn’t even been real.

“Usually?” he repeated. They were stopped at a red light and when she looked up, he was staring at her. All her fears about having ruined whatever was beginning between them were reflected in his eyes, paired with a hint of desperate, heart aching, hope.

“Maybe a little mess is overdue.”

They stared at each other, letting the words settle between them, until a horn honked from behind and they both jumped. Percy cleared his throat. Annabeth fussed with her hair just for something to do with her hands.

Percy found a parking spot a block away from Annabeth’s apartment and when they stepped out he draped his jacket over her shoulders without a word. As they walked down the sidewalk, shoulders bumping, shy and awkward now that they’d returned to the real world, Annabeth pulled his jacket tight around her to stave off the cold. She missed the warmth of his arm around her waist, the heat pumping through her veins when he kissed her.

“I’ll go to San Francisco with you,” Percy finally spoke up. His hands were buried in his pockets and his gaze fixed steadily ahead. “I should be able to scrape together enough for a ticket and I can get next weekend off work.”

Annabeth stopped just outside her building’s front door and turned to look at him. “If you were coming, your ticket would be on me,” she started. Thankfully confidence had returned to her voice. “You’re not coming, though.”

“I want to,” he said, turning to face her. His brow was knit together again, worry written all over his face, and her heart did a few unwitting flips over the sweetness of his concern.

“Please don’t take this the wrong way, Percy, but I don’t want you to,” she told him. “I don’t think I would have gotten through tonight without you. No. I _know_ I wouldn’t have. But I have to do next weekend on my own. And the last thing I want is my dad trying to use you for some kind of extra attention. I know him. He wants you there so he can flaunt you, one way or another.”

Percy looked down the street, his adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed. A light breeze ruffled his mussed hair and Annabeth had to fight the urge to smile. She’d told him a little mess was overdue, and in every single way, Percy Jackson was the perfect amount of mess.

“He still wants you,” Percy finally said, looking back at Annabeth, “or at least he does now. A guy like that… he thinks he can get whatever he wants, is used to getting it.”

“I know,” she assured him, her blood turning to ice at the thought. It had been clear in the way Luke watched her, the cruel words he’d spoken trying to break her down and, she was sure, set the foundation for whatever manipulation he had next up his sleeve. She couldn’t take anymore. Annabeth stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Percy’s waist, leaning her head against his chest and soaking in his warmth.

She felt his heartbeat quicken and he wrapped his arms back around her. “Do you promise to call me every night while you’re gone?” he asked.

She smiled, breathing in his scent. It was exactly the same as the night she’d met him and now, instead of disarming, it felt comforting. “Maybe,” she replied, just for the sake of being difficult. There was no doubt in her mind that she’d call, if only because she had a feeling hearing his voice would give her much needed strength to get through her days.

“If I don’t hear from you, I’ll have to assume you’re in mortal danger and come after you,” he teased lightly.

“Even all the way across the country?”

“Without hesitating,” he confirmed.

Annabeth pulled away enough to look at him, just so he could see the skepticism on her face. “You talk big, Percy Jackson.”

“It’s not talk,” he assured her, no more teasing in his voice. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for someone I care about, and now that includes you.”

The goosebumps that sprung up all over her body had nothing to do with the cold. She swallowed hard, her eyes flickering between his lips and his gaze. If he hadn’t been so upset with himself in the car, she would have just kissed him as soon as the urge washed over her, but she wasn’t about to corner him into an uncomfortable situation again. 

“One more time?” she asked, and she could tell form the way his tongue slid across his bottom lip that he knew exactly what she was asking for.

“You’re sure you won’t regret it?” he asked in return, the corners of his lips twitching upward.

“I’d regret it if we didn’t,” she answered, her arms tightening around him. 

The smile that appeared on his face only lasted a few seconds, because his lips were suddenly very occupied kissing her. Warmth seeped down to her bones, even as they stood in the cold, February night. Her only regret was having to stop, to say goodnight and watch him leave.


	26. Chapter 26

There were a thousand and one things for Piper and Annabeth to talk about when Monday morning finally rolled around, but they unfortunately didn’t have the time. School wouldn’t wait. They agreed to save it all for the evening, when they were done with classes for the day and could give each other the focus and time they knew their respective conversations deserved. Piper was expecting a lazy, cuddly heart to heart on the couch. She wasn’t expecting to find Annabeth building a pillow and blanket fort in the living room when she finally returned home from school.

When they’d been in middle school, still learning to deal with the pain caused by their absentee parents, they would build themselves a fort in the middle of their dorm room and hide away from the world in it. As they got older, started to come to terms with their realities and learn to cope in more effective ways, the practice had started to feel juvenile and, before long, they left it in the past, as a distant memory. Piper hadn’t even thought about it in ages.

“It sounded like a good idea,” Annabeth told her, looking a little sheepish. “I wanted… to disappear for a little while. Just us, like we used to.” 

“I love it,” Piper assured her. She was past finding childish things beneath her. The older she got, the more she found things like this pleasantly reassuring. She had half a mind to bring her laptop along so they could put on some of the old, sappy rom-coms she and Annabeth had loved during those early years but decided they were too cool for as they aged. They didn’t need to be cool anymore, they just needed a little happiness.

Talking was the most important task of the evening, though, so instead of worrying about silly old movies, they changed into the coziest, warmest sweats they could find and crawled inside their fort. They lay together on the ground, side by side, staring up at the blanket ceiling above them. 

“Can you believe we waited so long to do this again?” Piper asked with a laugh.

“It’s very long overdue,” Annabeth agreed, her voice full of warmth, “for more than one reason.”

The air of contentedness didn’t last long, because Annabeth soon began her story. 

Piper listened without interruption, quiet and thoughtful. It was easy enough to tell where things were heading from the beginning, but when Annabeth got to the worst of the details, Piper still felt like she might be sick. Piper wasn’t sure what she’d thought had happened to Annabeth all those years ago, but the reality was far worse than anything she’d imagined.

What struck Piper most was the strength with which Annabeth recounted all she’d gone through that summer long ago and what had happened the evening prior. Anyone else might have thought Annabeth sounded clinical or emotionless, but Piper knew better. Telling the story was clearly difficult, even so many years later. Annabeth’s voice strained at some points, her eyes glistened with the threat of tears, those subtle changes only perceptible because of how well Piper knew her. Still, she powered through without holding back. Only Annabeth could be that strong, that brave in the face of her own pain.

When Annabeth finished, they were both silent for a few minutes.

The events leading up to Annabeth’s suffering had developed over the course of an entire year. Piper tried to remember what she’d been doing all that time, how she had been so distracted she hadn’t even noticed what was happening to her best friend. She should have seen some kind of sign, she should have stepped in. Piper could have stopped it. If she’d been a better friend, if she’d been more dependable and less wrapped up in herself, she might have been able to save Annabeth from all that suffering.

Countless guilty thoughts raced through Piper’s mind, remembering the way she’d pushed for Annabeth to go on dates, her impatience and annoyance at Annabeth’s objections, the flippant comments she’d made over the years about getting laid. She knew Annabeth didn’t blame her for those things, but that didn’t stop Piper from blaming herself.

“I’m so sorry,” Piper finally whispered. “I’m so sorry I didn’t notice. I’m so sorry you’ve carried this alone for so long. I’m just… so sorry.”

“Please, Piper,” Annabeth replied, turning toward her, “there’s nothing for you to apologize for. I worked really hard to hide it. I _wanted_ to hide it. While it was happening I thought hiding made it more… special… and when it was over I was just too ashamed to tell you, embarrassed over how stupid I had been. For a long time I thought I was… I don’t know, that I was the one at fault for letting it happen.”

The idea of Annabeth being _ashamed_ of what had happened to her made Piper feel angry, though that anger was of course aimed at the rest of the world, not Annabeth herself. “It wasn’t your fault,” Piper assured her, trying to keep her tone comforting despite the frustration she felt.

A hint of a smile played at Annabeth’s lips. “I know that now, at least mostly. It’s still a little hard not to blame myself, but I realize that I wasn’t the one who was supposed to know better.”

“You weren’t,” Piper agreed, reaching out to take Annabeth’s hand and hold it tight. After a few seconds of introspection, Piper admitted, “Honestly, I want to think I would have tried to stop it if I’d known, but I probably would have thought it was just as romantic back then.”

“It felt like something out of a movie or TV show when it started,” Annabeth explained, her eyebrow furrowing and that slight smile disappearing. “By the time I got home that summer I really thought he loved me and then, when nothing felt right, I thought that meant there was something wrong with me.”

Her heart aching, Piper laid there just looking at Annabeth. Even with a frown on her face, Annabeth was one of the most beautiful people Piper had ever known, dignified and striking. That beauty went beyond the physical, though. Annabeth was generous and kind, selfless and unflinchingly loyal. Her heart was of rare caliber and the idea that anyone could be capable of using and hurting her was infuriating. That Annabeth had lived all those years suffering made Piper wish she could hit something – or someone, more like.

“He’s here? In the city?” Piper asked.

Annabeth shrugged. “I’m not sure. I assume he left this morning with my family.”

“But he was there last night,” Piper said.

“Yeah,” Annabeth confirmed, her gray eyes stormy. “I hadn’t expected to see him… I don’t know what would have happened to me if Percy hadn’t been there, Piper. I also can’t believe Percy saw me turn into such a walking disaster and it doesn’t… bother me.”

Piper studied her best friend’s face. Annabeth wore so many unfamiliar expressions these days. It was exciting, if a little scary. For years Piper had hoped for this moment – not to hear the story behind Annabeth’s pain, though she’d wanted that for a long time too, but to see her best friend begin to open her heart to someone. It was what Annabeth deserved, and Piper hoped Percy was smart enough to realize he was the luckiest guy on the fucking planet.

“You know,” Piper said, rolling over and propping herself on one arm, “I thought you’d met someone that summer and gotten wrapped up in some kind of whirlwind romance that just ended terribly. Watching you with Percy the last couple weeks, I was starting to get scared you were going to end up doing the same thing and I’d be powerless to stop it. And also very guilty of pushing you into it.”

Annabeth shook her head, returning her gaze to the blanket ceiling. “Percy is… the complete opposite of everything I’d ever thought I wanted, at least on the surface, but he feels like everything I’ve ever needed.”

Piper’s laugh filled their tent, making Annabeth look at her with confusion. “That’s exactly what I think every time I’m with Jason,” she explained, feeling her heart swell as she finally said the thought aloud. “Every little thing he does feels like the opposite of what I’ve always looked for, but I know those are the very same reasons he’s so good for me. From the very start it made no sense, but I couldn’t stay away from him.”

“I get it,” Annabeth said. “I get it, because it was exactly the same for me. It’s like he’s got this gravitational pull and the second I laid eyes on him I was stuck in it.”

For a minute or two they enjoyed knowing they were sharing such a fulfilling experience in silence. Since they had met they dreamed about sharing everything, whether it was going to school or the eventuality of getting married, but they’d ended up taking very different paths where dating was concerned. Probably it had been for the worse in both their cases, in hindsight. Somehow, though, miraculously, they’d found themselves back in the same place.

Piper reached down, brushing stray, golden blonde curls out of Annabeth’s face. They were only just getting started, and the road ahead would be full of unknowns and new experiences, but they could face them together. There were no secrets between them now, for the first time in a long time.

“I’m sorry for being so… crass, saying that Percy wanted to fuck you,” Piper finally said, her nose wrinkling at the memory. If she’d known Annabeth’s history, she would have acted differently. It had seemed like fun to tease her at the time, but now Piper wished she could take it back.

Annabeth giggled. Giggled! Piper didn’t think she’d ever heard Annabeth _giggle_ , even when they were awkward little preteens, and definitely not with the pure delight she did in that moment. She couldn’t even be mad that her apology was being met with laughter. The sound was magical, like a gift from the secret world they’d created within the safety of blankets and pillows.

“I don’t think you were wrong,” Annabeth said, still giggling, a pleasant shade of pink coloring her cheeks. “And I don’t think I ever wanted you to be.”

“Did you just admit I was right?” Piper asked, her eyebrows shooting up. “Did Annabeth Chase just admit that I, Piper McLean, was _right_ about something?”

“You can have just this one thing,” Annabeth allowed and then they were laughing together, Piper collapsing against her best friend and rolling to hide her face. They settled again after a minute or so, Piper resting her head on Annabeth’s shoulder. 

“I’m not sure when I’ll be ready,” Annabeth continued, “if it’ll be tomorrow, next week, next year… When I’m with him, even just in class this morning, I feel like it’ll be tomorrow. Like I’ll combust and crumble into ash if it’s _not_ tomorrow. But when I’m trying to fall asleep, lost in my own thoughts, I feel like it might never happen.”

Piper thought about her own experience the night before, her mind replaying the way Jason had looked at her, ready to give all of himself to her, and the way she’d inexplicably stopped him. “I always thought it was no big deal, physical, just a reaction to hormones and biological instincts,” she thought aloud, “but when you have something real, it’s more than that. There’s no rhyme or reason. You can be ready, want it more than anything you’ve ever wanted, and still somehow know the timing is wrong, find yourself pulling the breaks when you would have given anything the day before to be able to hit the gas.”

“You?” Annabeth asked. “Piper McLean pulling the breaks?”

“We’re living in strange times,” Piper answered, scoffing. 

With a perplexed smile on her own face, she recounted the events of the night before for Annabeth. She told her about teasing with Jason’s family, how easy it had been to laugh with them, even though she was so terribly nervous about impressing them. The awkward end to dinner was skipped, deciding this really wasn’t the time to delve into the nagging problem that lurked on the horizon, considering it now seemed inevitable that Annabeth and Percy were going to happen. Instead she went straight into the mind boggling decision she made to put Jason’s proposition off and, yet again, simply fall asleep tucked comfortably against his side after a hot and heavy make out session.

“I’ve just had so many experiences that were nice enough, but forgettable,” Piper explained, working through her own feelings in real time. Annabeth had never minded letting Piper do that. “I’m sure it would have been great, but I want it to be perfect. I don’t want some awkward, hushed evening, worrying about whether someone might hear us or what they’d say in the morning, not with Jason.”

Annabeth had taken to playing with Piper’s hair while listening, a soothing show of affection that had always helped Piper settle her thoughts and feelings as much as the actual talking. “I feel like,” Piper continued, though she had to pause to laugh at herself for daring to put such a dangerous thought into the universe. “I feel like this could be my last first time. I’m not saying I’m going to run off and get married to Jason or anything, but for the first time in my life I can see an ending that’s something other than disaster. I want it to count. I want to dream about it when we’re old and gray, even after a lifetime of unforgettable nights together. This is the only time that’s ever really mattered.”

“Your last first time,” Annabeth repeated, the reverence in her voice making it sound like she was carefully weighing each word. “Isn’t that the kind of thing people usually panic about? Knowing they’ll never be with anyone else.”

Piper shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe those people just haven’t found the person actually worth being their last first.”

“I always knew you were a hopeless romantic at heart, but I must say, it’s nice to see you finally embracing it,” Annabeth said, twirling one of Piper’s choppy layers around a finger. “You might be on to something, though.”

Rolling onto her stomach, Piper rested her head in her hands and looked at Annabeth with renewed fire. “What happened with that asshole Luke, it was bullshit. I would give anything to be able to jump into a time machine and castrate him before he ever got within ten feet of you. Hell, I have half a mind to go hunt him down and do it now. But you’re going to have more firsts, firsts that actually matter, and someday, whether it’s with Percy or someone else entirely, you’re going to find the person worth having your last first with.”

“I was beginning to worry you were losing your edge, not starting with threats of castration,” Annabeth replied, her eyes twinkling. 

“Shut it, Chase,” Piper said, leaning in to give Annabeth a headbutt on the chin, which in hindsight may have made her subsequent, “I’m serious,” a little less impactful.

Annabeth laughed, shoving Piper away. She rolled onto her stomach to push onto her hands and knees and start crawling out of the blanket fort. Piper hollered after her, scrambling to make chase. They played a game of cat and mouse around the living room, yelling and laughing like neither of them had a care in the world – like Piper wasn’t growing increasingly anxious about her dad’s wedding in just over a week, like Annabeth wasn’t facing one of the most difficult tasks she’d ever had to face even sooner.

Eventually they tired themselves out, both bent over trying to catch their breath as they laughed at themselves. Piper went to get her laptop. Annabeth made enough popcorn for a small army and pulled all the beer from the fridge. They both had homework they probably should have done instead, but they needed time together more than they needed to get ahead on reading or projects. They decided it was a better use of their evening to curl up together back in the blanket fort.

The first of many movies queued up, Annabeth laid her head on Piper’s shoulder and took a deep breath. “I want him to be my next first,” she confessed softly, no need to clarify who he was. They both knew full well. “The jury’s still out on last first, but next first sounds just right for now.”

Piper held up her beer in toast. “To the firsts that actually matter, and making them count.”

That was something they were both eager to drink to.


	27. Chapter 27

The week went by much too quickly for Annabeth’s comfort.

Monday. A wonderful and giddy hour spent in swim class, stealing one too many glances at Percy, finding Frank and Hazel chatting comfortably, and Leo finally returned. Percy crashing her lunch hour, distracting her from the reading she was desperately trying to finish before class because she’d gotten wrapped up in a design project and run out of time over the weekend. A blissful evening talking with her best friend, turned into a late night of pigging out, drinking, and watching sappy old movies she saw in an entirely new light.

Tuesday. Acing her first exam in her toughest class of the semester. Another distraction filled lunch with Percy. Dinner with Jason and Piper while Piper put poor Jason (and Annabeth, even if she’d heard it all before) through the torture of listening to the raunchiest excerpts from one of Fredrick Chase’s critically acclaimed novels.

Wednesday. As a change of pace, breakfast with Percy. Which turned into another lunch with Percy. Which turned into dinner with Percy. And, in the safety of her own apartment, the madness of the weekend safely behind them, finding themselves wasting away the greater part of an hour becoming much better acquainted with each other’s mouths.

Thursday. Invitations to Tristan McLean’s wedding arriving, throwing the apartment into yet another uproar. Deciding that lunch dates with Percy would be a daily standing appointment and sneaking off to a dimly lit corner on campus so they could seal the deal with a make out session before Percy went to class. Piper distracting her from packing by modeling far too many lingerie options for the next evening.

Friday. A return to swim class, no longer bothering to steal glances, taking them shamelessly instead, savoring the way he commanded the pool, the expertise with which he advised the class on technique. Discovering Leo had a tattoo reading, _Caution: Contents Hot_. Lunch with Percy being crashed by Frank, Hazel and Leo. Hazel commenting that Percy and Annabeth made a cute couple, and neither of them bothering to deny the label.

Before she really knew what was happening, Annabeth found herself standing in the airport with Percy, time beginning to run short for her to catch her flight, but unable to pull herself away from the safety of his arms.

“It’s not too late,” Percy told her, reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ear. “I could go run to the desk, get myself a ticket, make a few calls and get my shifts at work covered. Easy.”

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. “Bessie’s parked in short term, which means you’d owe a small fortune by the time we got back, and you don’t have anything packed, no luggage at all. It’s _definitely_ too late.”

“I can make it work without luggage,” he said, pursing his lips, and Annabeth knew he was completely serious. “And I can call Leo and Hazel to pick up Bessie. It would make Hazel’s whole year. You’d be her hero.”

“No,” she told him, resolute, reaching up to take his face between her hands, “and your complete disregard for not having packed is absolutely horrifying. I don’t even want to think about what ‘making it work’ would entail.” Percy looked like he was about to tell her, so she pulled him down and silenced him with a kiss. 

Over the course of the week, Annabeth had gotten very used to kissing Percy. It had felt completely natural the first time, but as they had become more comfortable, begun to learn what they each liked, natural had transcended into something else entirely. Their tongues worked together flawlessly in a teasing push and pull, never too much, always just enough, like they’d been doing it their whole lives and not just six days. He knew exactly where to put his hands to drive her crazy without pushing her past her comfort zone. Just when they were both about to reach their limits, they would pull apart, hearts racing and chests heaving.

Even standing in the midst of a crowd she was instantly at risk of becoming completely lost in him. It took an unbelievable amount of willpower to pull herself away after just a few seconds, and even then she was already breathless. If someone told Annabeth that Percy Jackson was a god of kissing, she would believe them without question.

“Call before you go to sleep, no matter how late it is here,” he told her for the thousandth time since they’d left for the airport, and tilted his head to press his lips to her forehead.

“Don’t fall for any other angry customers while I’m gone,” she teased instead of promising to call. She’d already said it several times and they both knew she would. Slowly, painfully, she extricated herself from him.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he assured her, reaching out so he could cling to her hand for as long as possible.

For a second, once he was out of reach, she almost lost her resolve and asked him to come along, but she pushed down the urge. It was partially because she would miss him, yes, but her fear was the real inspiration. He wouldn’t care what her reasons were, but she did. She needed to do this on her own. Even though his brow was furrowed in concern as she walked away, they both knew this was something he couldn’t help her with. He’d be there when she got home and that mattered even more.

Nervous energy coursed through her veins as she took her seat on the plane. It was only late afternoon, but when the flight attendant asked if she’d like anything to drink, Annabeth requested tequila – thank God for complimentary alcohol in first class. Annabeth wouldn’t let herself get drunk, not with so much at stake on this trip, but she had the flight attendant keep that tequila coming until she’d built up a nice buzz. It would be worn off by the time she landed on the West Coast in six hours.

Thinking about how long the flight was made her shrink into the seat. Six hours there today. Six hours back on Sunday. Two full days back in New York, then she’d be flying another six hours out on Wednesday for Piper’s dad’s wedding on Thursday. They’d stay in Malibu until that following Sunday, which would see another six hours of flight time home for good. By then she’d have spent over a full day just flying. At least she could pull out her books, sketchpad or laptop to do homework.

Annabeth hadn’t broached the subject of Tristan McLean’s wedding with Percy yet. Piper had made sure Annabeth had a plus one, but it would be a massive, crazy step for him to go. It wouldn’t make sense for them to have separate rooms, though Annabeth knew the McLean mansion would have more than enough space to make it possible, assuming that was where they stayed. Piper and Jason would obviously be sharing one. If she were to invite him, if he were to agree to come, she knew they’d be sharing both a room and a bed, on top of all the usual intensity that came with taking trips with someone.

When she called later that night, she’d ask him about it, test the waters. Already she was looking forward to that phone call, the call she’d make Saturday night, and the inevitable reunion when she arrived back in New York on Sunday. One of her fingers idly twirled a ringlet of curls as she considered paying for the in flight service to call him then, after just a couple short hours in the air, but he would be on his way to work, if not already there, and she didn’t want to disrupt him.

Also, feeling so needy was a little horrifying and she wanted to smother the thoughts before she got carried away by them.

Instead, Annabeth pulled out her headphones and slipped them into her ears, closed her eyes and leaned back into her seat. That damned wedding was too prominent in her mind, though, and soon she was circling back to the room issue. 

It would be awkward at first, she thought, but they’d relax soon enough. Relaxed seemed to be their natural state of being when together. She would shower first, washing off the grime of their flight. She’d sit on the bed, their bed, flipping through channels while he took his turn showering, and then he’d walk out, hair still wet, sweats hung low around his hips, no shirt. He’d climb into bed beside her, pull her against him, just to be close to her while they watched whatever seemed the least annoying option on live TV. She wouldn’t be able to focus on the TV, though, and soon her lips would be on his bare chest, his hand sliding down between her thighs.

A gentle hand on Annabeth’s shoulder shocked her awake. She wasn’t sure when she’d fallen asleep, but the flight attendant smiled kindly and told her they would be coming in for a landing soon. She needed to secure her backpack under the seat, check her belt, put her seat in an upright position. Once her belongings were safely tucked away and she was ready for landing per instruction, Annabeth stared out the window at the approaching view of the Bay Area, dabbing at her still heated face with the back of her hand.

If only she could go back to that dream, she thought, instead of having to face this nightmare. There was no going back, though. The plane descended, taxied to the gate, and Annabeth found herself back in her hometown for the first time in over four years.

On the ground she discovered a text from her dad telling her he wouldn’t be able to pick her up and to take an Uber to the house instead. Of course. She rolled her eyes. Things were getting off to a stellar start.

She was hungry, having missed the in flight meal during her nap, but if she stopped for food now her dad would chide her for lateness, so she went straight to baggage claim and ordered a car. It was still early in the evening. Her family might not have eaten dinner, or if they had, she could maybe still scrounge up some leftovers. The one thing she knew was that they wouldn’t have taken her into account when making their plans.

That was the way it had always been. Annabeth was an afterthought to her family. She was an imperfection, an embarrassment, but her father couldn’t outright ignore her and maintain his Family Man image. Sometimes she wondered why he hadn’t just given her up when her mother had left him. It would have saved him a lot of trouble. She was a blonde haired, bright eyed baby. She would have been adopted. It would have saved her a lot of trouble, too.

The Uber driver seemed to sense her foul mood, so he turned up the music and didn’t try to make conversation as they drove, which meant he’d get a five-star review and a big tip. 

They made good time. It was so much warmer, milder, in San Francisco this time of year. Even that was annoying to her. New York had proper seasons, extremes that made summers miserably hot and winters a slippery, snowy battle, and that always made Annabeth feel more alive, more real. No wonder her dad loved living in San Francisco so much – even the weather played into his fantasy of perfection.

“Thank you for the ride,” Annabeth said, her brow furrowed as she climbed out of the car and collected her bags.

On an aesthetic level, Annabeth had to admit she loved the house itself. It was an ode to Victorian era, Queen Anne style architecture, built in the late nineteenth century. Annabeth remembered the day they’d moved in, the excitable six year old she had been when her dad sold his first book, fascinated by classic columns and big bay windows even then, not yet turned bitter by the way her dad and step-mom treated her. She had never seen a house so beautiful, and she was going to _live_ there. The memory made her heart ache.

She was just about to start lugging her bags up the front steps when the door opened and Bobby emerged with a pretty, blonde teenage girl Annabeth immediately assumed was his girlfriend Jessica. They both looked surprised to see her, but Bobby quickly broke into a smile and rushed down to meet her. “You’re here! I thought you were going to be later,” he said, taking her suitcase from her and carrying it easily up the porch steps. “Jess, this is my sister, Annabeth.”

Annabeth smiled as she followed Bobby up to the front deck and waved to Jessica. This wasn’t an ideal meeting, considering Annabeth’s hair was probably a tangled mess and she felt grungy from being cooped up on a plane for six hours, but Jessica seemed excited all the same to meet her. In fact, Jessica looked a little star struck, which Annabeth put down to Jessica knowing about Percy.

“It’s great to meet you,” Annabeth said and shook Jessica’s hand. “You were all Bobby could talk about last weekend.”

Both Jessica and Bobby blushed. Jessica was sheepish, but clearly pleased to hear her boyfriend had been talking about her. “He talks about you all the time, too. I’m a little disappointed I’m on my way out. You’ll be here all weekend, right? I’ll get to see you again?”

Annabeth’s eyes flickered toward Bobby as she tried to hide her own surprise. It seemed unbelievable that Bobby would talk about her at all, let alone all the time. “Yeah, I’m here until Sunday night,” she confirmed, filing the new information away in the back of her mind to come back to later. “We’ll have to hang out a little.”

A kiss with Bobby and a few more awkward words later, Jessica was on her way. “She’s really cute,” Annabeth told her brother once they were inside. Matthew hollered a greeting from the living room while Bobby led her up the stairs, still lugging her suitcase for her.

“Yeah, she is,” he agreed, a boyish, giddy grin on his face. He’d said at the gala the Sunday before that he’d been dating Jessica since Winter Formal, when he’d asked her to be his date even though he thought she’d laugh in his face. Once again Annabeth was struck by how terrible a sister she had been, completely unaware of what was going on in her brothers’ lives. Matthew was less talkative, but she was sure he was experiencing exciting milestones of his own, Annabeth completely unaware, off living her own life in New York.

“Did she like the pictures and autograph?” Annabeth asked, the two of them coming to a stop outside her bedroom door. She wasn’t eager to go inside, and she genuinely wanted to know more about Bobby. Staying to talk to him in the hall was a win-win situation.

“Oh man,” he replied, his eyes lighting up. “She flipped out, asked me all kinds of questions, told everyone at school. Seriously, _everyone_ was talking about it all week. Well, everyone she hangs out with, which is mostly the swim team, but still. I’m like a hero now.”

“Sorry he couldn’t make it this weekend,” she told him. If even a few things had been different, she might have brought Percy along just for Bobby.

Bobby shook his head and waved a hand. “Dad was doing his freaky starry eyed thing. I get why you didn’t bring him.”

That was only half the reason, but still she was surprised Bobby realized even that much. “You know about that?”

“Oh yeah,” Bobby said with a roll of his eyes. “Over a year ago he found out Mats has classes with this girl who’s kind of famous on YouTube and he’s been trying to convince him to invite her over ever since. We don’t even know her, and rumor has it she’s kind of a jerk. It’s annoying.”

“Sounds like Dad, yeah,” Annabeth commiserated, her mind reeling.

Bobby grinned, giving Annabeth a quick hug. “It’s good to have you home, even for the weekend,” he told her. “Mom should have dinner ready soon. I’ll let you get settled.”

Watching him hurry back down the stairs, Annabeth found herself at a complete loss. In the five years since she’d run away from this place, her brothers had started to grow up. They may not have been treated as coldly by their parents as she always had been, but Fredrick Chase was still their father, trying to make them into ideal sons and using them to get ahead. She’d left them alone to navigate life under his rule.

Whatever thoughts she was having about her brothers faded to the back of her mind when she stepped into her bedroom, though. It was practically untouched since last she had been there, like a time capsule. Over the years she’d had a few things sent to her, books mostly, but the walls were still covered in photographs and sketches, the furniture arranged the way she’d left it, and her bed made with the same sheets and comforter she’d used for years.

Being back in that room wasn’t as bad as she’d expected it to be, but memories still flooded her mind, taking her back to the worst summer of her life. She could picture Luke there, pulling her into his lap while he sat on the chair at her desk, pressing her down against the bed, whispering sweet words to convince her he loved her so she wouldn’t ask him to stop. It made knots form in her stomach. She would have to spend as little time as possible in her room.

Not even bothering to unpack, she grabbed a change of clothes straight from her suitcase and took a quick shower, then headed downstairs. Matthew and Bobby were watching TV, so she joined them, not really paying attention to what was on. Before long, her step-mom called them all to dinner. She and Fredrick gave Annabeth stiff greetings, but focused conversation over their meal on the twins. That was fine by her.

After dinner, Annabeth listened to her father explain what the plan for the next day would be. The journalist writing the article on him would arrive in the morning, along with a photographer who would snap pictures of the family around the house. Luke and Penelope would get there sometime before, to help get everything ready, and because Luke would be included in the piece. He was a shining example of the impact Fredrick had as a mentor in their field. The family would each be interviewed, and he expected them on their best behavior – this was said with a pointed look at Annabeth. Not rolling her eyes took every ounce of willpower she’d ever had.

When all was said and done, Annabeth having helped get dinner cleaned up and assisted her step-mother in getting snacks prepared for the next day without even a sign of recognition or thanks, she went into the backyard and took a seat on the patio steps. It was close to ten on the west coast, which meant it was past midnight in New York. Still, when she pulled out her phone and made her promised call, Percy picked up on the first ring.

“I was starting to worry,” was how he greeted her, his tone light and teasing.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. It felt especially good after holding back with her dad. “It’s not even ten here. You said to call before I went to sleep.”

“Isn’t that your bed time? In bed by ten like a cute, little old lady?”

“I’m going to hang up on you,” she threatened, but he knew she was full of it and just laughed.

“How are you holding up?” he asked, a little of the humor fading from his voice.

She took a deep breath, thinking carefully about the question. “I’m tired, not looking forward to tomorrow, to seeing Luke. I kind of want to sleep on the couch, but I’d probably get yelled at. I met Bobby’s girlfriend, though, and she’s adorable. I’m glad to see him and Matt again so soon.”

“Speaking of Bobby and his girlfriend, I’ve been thinking about them this week…” he trailed off, and even from the other side of the continent, Annabeth could hear the gears turning in Percy’s mind, picture the way his lips would purse and his gaze grow distant. The clarity of the image in her own mind surprised her.

“And?” she prodded when Percy still didn’t continue.

“Well, just that it might be cool if they could visit over Spring Break or something,” he continued, a hint of trepidation in his voice. “We could show them the city, I could show Jessica where I train, maybe introduce her to some people on the team. Matt could come too, I wouldn’t want him to feel left out. I dunno.”

Annabeth tried to control her smile and the way her heart began hammering in her chest. He sounded so genuinely excited about the idea. Percy must have misunderstood her short silence, because he quickly went on blabbering. “You can think about it. They’re your brothers, of course, I know it’s weird for me to think about inviting them out here. Just. You know. It’s an idea.”

“It’s a good idea,” Annabeth assured him, “and it’s not weird. Well, maybe a little, but still. I’ll think about it, and find out if they already have plans for break.”

“If they already have plans, we could do the summer instead,” he suggested, a little more sure of himself now. Summer. It still sounded so far away, even Spring Break seemed far off, yet Percy spoke with such ease and confidence about making plans together.

“Hey, Percy?” she said, feeling emboldened by the faith he clearly had in their budding relationship. “Do you want to do something crazy with me?”

“Absolutely.”

She laughed, feeling so light she might very well be swept away by a breeze. “Piper’s dad is getting married next week and I was wonder–“

“I’m in,” he said before she could even finish.

“It’s on a Thursday, in Malibu,” she quickly told him. “You’d have to miss school, and our class on Friday…”

“I’ll talk to coach. He’ll probably just cancel it for the day, he doesn’t really care,” Percy replied, and she could hear the smile in his voice. “I can’t miss our first Valentine’s Day, that would just be downright embarrassing.”

Their first Valentine’s Day, Annabeth hadn’t even thought of it. This was her first Valentine’s Day with a… well, whatever Percy was. Her thoughts traveled back to her conversation with Piper on Monday, about firsts that mattered, and she felt her heart swell.

“Good,” she said, though the word was woefully inadequate for the way she felt. “Please pack at least twelve hours in advance.”

“You’ll be lucky if I pack two hours in advance,” he replied.

“I don’t want to hear this. I’m hanging up now.”

“Hey, Annabeth?”

“Hmm?”

“I miss you.”

Her heart did a wild little gymnastic routine in her chest. He’d seen her earlier that very day, less time than they’d spent without seeing each other even just that week, yet she understood exactly what he meant. The time was meaningless. They both felt the physical distance more powerfully than should have been possible.

“I miss you, too,” she said softly. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow night.”

Once they hung up, and it took several more minutes for them to finally get around to it, Annabeth pulled her knees against her chest, rested her chin on them, and stared out at the small garden of a backyard. It was a beautiful space, kept with care by her step-mother, an outdoor table and chairs in the back corner, fairy lights strung along the fence, illuminating the darkened night and creating an almost magical ambiance. She wished she could stay out there all night, but she was tired, and she’d need to be up early in the morning.

Her heart was full of Percy when she returned to her bedroom and that, thankfully, made it a little easier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know what you're thinking. "author, how could you just breeze past their first makeout session like that? are we readers a joke to you?" to that i say, fret not. i love you all dearly and have prepared a little supplemental piece to accompany this chapter, which you can read [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24710860/chapters/60794290)!
> 
> also, i'm sorry i didn't get to reply to comments on chapter 26!! it's been a bit of a crazy weekend here, but i read them all and seriously they mean so much to me. T^T


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter contains explicit content.

When Jason arrived that fateful Friday afternoon, they didn’t say a word about what they both knew would be happening. He asked about Annabeth. Piper told him she had been seen safely off. They ordered dinner. They talked over their plans for the wedding next week. Jason told her about a project he was working on. Piper told him about the presentation she had to give on Monday. 

An average Friday for them on the surface, but tension brewing just beneath it. 

When she would touch his arm casually he would tense, his breath hitch, sparks flicker in his blue eyes. If she draped her hair over one shoulder, she would catch those eyes of his trailing the line of her neck, his tongue sliding across his bottom lip. Just the simple act of crossing her legs would steal his attention, making him forget what he was saying as his gaze wandered down to her thighs, bared by the skirt she’d decided to wear that day.

Piper considered teasing him a little longer, waiting to see if he might work up the courage to make the first move again, but he wasn’t the only one affected. Crossing her legs wasn’t just to tempt him, she’d felt a sudden rush of desire when he had rolled his head to stretch his neck and simply couldn’t sit still. She’d had to drape her hair over one shoulder because his voice had taken on a deep timbre when he expressed frustration about one of his project group mates and she found herself feeling a little overheated. Touching his arm was simply instinct, something she couldn’t resist doing, needing at least a little physical contact.

“I’ll be right back,” Piper lied, when she finally decided she couldn’t take anymore. Jason didn’t seem suspicious, because he nodded and pulled out his phone to occupy him until she returned. Sweet, trusting Jason, she thought, had no idea what was coming.

She disappeared into her room and began her preparations. The process only took a few minutes. It was nothing too extreme, but when she had finished she was in a carefully selected, pale pink, white lace covered bra and matching panties. Her hair was left to fall around her shoulders and, after a little last minute debate, she pulled on a pair of sheer white stockings.

Looking in the mirror, psyching herself up, Piper felt a tinge of doubt. She’d never been particularly insecure about her looks. She had her father’s defined jaw line, high cheekbones, long nose and plump lips. Those features that looked so masculine on him had translated perfectly onto a smaller, feminine face, pulled together by large, wide eyes that had been Piper’s mother’s – a dark ring around her irises, with a lighter brown circling her pupil and strings of beige weaving throughout, so that they were never exactly the same shade depending on how the light hit them or what she wore.

She was tall, though not quite as tall as Annabeth the Giant, and her body naturally thin. A few times asshole guys in high school had told her to eat a burger. She’d suggested in return they eat a dick. Guys like that would rag on a girl’s body no matter what she looked like, mostly because no self-respecting girl would look at them twice. It didn’t matter what they thought, especially when she thought she looked pretty hot.

Confidence seemed to fail her for the moment, though. All she could see were the things that were too small – her breasts, her ass, her narrow hips. Unbidden thoughts of Reyna being Jason’s first crush fluttered through her mind. Reyna was voluptuous, glamorous, _stunning_. She could only imagine being disappointing in comparison.

No. Bad thoughts. She shook her head to send them scattering and pulled herself away from the mirror. Jason had never made her feel anything short of gorgeous. He looked at her with burning hunger in his eyes at the slightest provocation. His hands had eagerly explored her at every opportunity, been nothing but excited by what they discovered hidden under her clothes. Tonight would be no exception.

And tonight they wouldn’t stop once they got started.

Ruffling her hair around anxiously, Piper climbed onto her bed and settled herself down, legs folded neatly beneath her, and took a deep breath. “Hey, Jason! Can you come help me with something real quick?” she called, heart racing.

Feet padded down the hall and then Jason appeared in the doorway. He got out, “What’s up?” before he caught sight of her and froze.

They stared at each other in charged silence. Piper struggled to keep her breathing even. She’d been sixteen when she’d lost her virginity. She’d been with many, _many_ people since then. Never in her life had she been so wonderfully terrified. The fact that terror could feel wonderful at all seemed like madness, and yet it was one of the sweetest sensations she’d ever experienced.

“Are you just going to stand there?” she asked, trying to sound light and teasing but failing. Her voice was heavy, desperate, needy.

A smile broke across Jason’s face and he shook his head. “No, no I’m not.”

He was on her in the blink of an eye, capturing her lips without hesitation and laying her back against the bed. Her hands moved quickly, going to battle with the buttons on his shirt. Impatience made her want to scream – or maybe that was the shock of pleasure as his teeth tugged on her bottom lip, harder than he’d ever before dared – and she eventually gave up trying to undo the buttons and just pulled, not caring how many of those damned little circles popped off.

While she dealt with his shirt, his hands did their due diligence of exploration. They started on her thighs, fingers digging into supple skin, trailing along the inside of them before skipping up to her stomach. She burned wherever he touched, her body responding to him by arching and leaning into him. All the while his mouth worked hungrily against hers, tongue forceful and demanding, excited.

“You are the most beautiful woman who has ever lived, Piper McLean,” he muttered when he finally broke their kiss, voice hoarse, guttural, and sending fire to the pit of her stomach, making her squirm beneath him while her fingers fumbled with his zipper and rid him of his pants.

Satisfied, at least for the moment, with how much she’d stripped him down, Piper’s arms wrapped around him. His lips dipped to her neck, trailing the same line his eyes had traveled while they were eating dinner. A quiet moan sounded from the back of her throat, her fingers dancing up his spine until they slipped into his hair. It was so short she almost couldn’t get a grip on it, but she managed, and he echoed her as she pulled.

Tonight was mostly about Jason. Piper didn’t have many expectations. She wasn’t even anticipating him being particularly good. They would have time, hopefully forever, to get good at sex. Holy hell, did she underestimate him.

Jason was admittedly awkward, touches unsure and clumsy, but he didn’t shy away, and somehow the imperfections made it better. His mouth trailed down her body, worshiping her in a way unlike anything she had ever even imagined. Any time her breath hitched, she whimpered, or she let out a moan, he lingered, drawing the sound from her again and again, until she had to plead with him to move on, give her more. He was always happy to oblige.

She might have worried he wasn’t enjoying himself, spending so much time on her, were it not for the way he groaned around her breast as his tongue teased a nipple, or the slow rumble in the back of his throat as his teeth scratched against the skin of her thigh and he desperately tugged her underwear off. He kept her stockings on, though, his hands sliding up and down the silk as his tongue slid through her center. 

What skill he lacked in eating her out was made up for twofold by his enthusiasm. He didn’t mind her gentle coaching, Piper making sure to tell him both when something wasn’t really working for her and when he was doing something very, _very_ right. It was such a relief when he finally (upon instruction) slipped his fingers inside her that she felt a little like crying, even though he really didn’t know what to do with them. His mouth, on the other hand, seemed to know exactly how to work her clit and really, that was what mattered most.

When her orgasm washed over her it was all she could do not to crush his head between her thighs. As her cries of ecstasy subsided, Jason lifted his face from her and grinned, proud, gloating, as if he knew she’d expected no orgasm at all. Her hands dragged him back up to kiss him, taste herself on his lips, and wipe that grin right off his gorgeous, perfect face.

They kissed endlessly. Piper wrapped her legs around him, holding him close, her fingers digging into his back. His hips rolled against her and she could feel the bulge of his erection, but neither of them moved to act on it. Instead, they enjoyed the feel of each other’s mouths, his hands once again roaming her now naked form (nearly, at least, save the stockings).

Finally, desperately, Piper rolled Jason onto his back. Her kisses were messy and needy as she reached to her bedside table and procured a condom. She’d had the forethought to set a couple out, and present Piper was very thankful to past Piper for that simple thoughtfulness. Mouth trailing down his body, fingers stopping to trace the lines of his taut, tense abdominal muscles, she pulled at his underwear and freed him.

Jason Grace was glorious. Piper sat back on her knees and took in the sight of him, naked and fully erect. This was something she wanted to remember forever, the way he looked sprawled out before her. His brow was covered in sweat, eyes intense and as vast as the sky itself, chest heaving with every labored breath, his body a perfectly sculpted work of art. And he was all hers, body and soul.

“I love you,” she told him. It was the first time she’d said the words directly and saying them out loud was freeing.

He looked at her with equal reverence, drinking in the sight of her above him. She couldn’t believe how stupid her insecurity had been. No one had ever looked at her the way Jason did, as if she were entirely perfect despite every last one of her imperfections – and Jason, she knew, was already aware of many of them. She was all his, too, body and soul. She gave both to him freely.

“I love you,” he echoed her, the smile that pulled at his lips making him look positively divine. “God, do I love you.”

She smiled in return as she ripped open the condom and took his length in her hands. As soon as she had him in her grip his head fell back and he groaned. It took no time at all for her to slip the condom on him, but her hand continued to slide along his length, enjoying both the absolute vision of perfection he was and the desperate way his hips bucked up into her.

A hand job was not on the menu tonight, though, so she didn’t waste much time on something so mundane. Piper aligned herself above him, her eyes locked on his face so she could watch every sweet second of his reaction when she lowered herself onto him. His slow, deep groan of pleasure was just as satisfying as the way he looked, and her own subtle moan harmonized with it beautifully.

Riding him was a dream come true – quite literally, because she’d been waking, hot and bothered, from dreams about him since the night they met. His brow furrowed as her hips rolled and he filled her again and again, and with each thrust his breathing became more ragged, the way he rose to meet her more desperate. His hands rested on her hips, his fingers digging into her skin so hard she was sure she’d find bruises left behind in the morning.

He didn’t last long, but fuck, was it great.

Just the sound he made when he finished was amazing, but the way his body tensed and writhed was even better. Her hips continued to move through his short orgasm, Piper filled with a kind of satisfaction that went beyond the physical. She also knew, as the breath went out of her when she drew herself off of him, that the future had wonderful things in store once he developed a little more stamina.

When they were done, they lay side by side in Piper’s bed, both still trying to fend off breathlessness. Nothing needed to be said. They reveled just in being together, in the way the memory of pleasure clung to their bodies.

Piper wasn’t sure how much time passed, but she eventually rolled onto her side, slipping an arm around Jason and tucking herself against him. “How do you feel?” she asked, her own voice sounding foreign as it cut through the thick silence.

He took a minute to answer, and when he did, his response was, “I don’t even know how to describe it.”

They laughed, Piper mouthed lazily against his neck, and they fell into that same exquisite silence again. Jason began to doze as her hand roamed the planes of his chest and abdomen. Contentment settled over her and soon Piper was slipping in and out of sleep as well. Time continued to pass, but they were in a world of their own. It could have been minutes, or it could have been hours, and Piper couldn’t care less regardless.

Her light slumber was disrupted when Jason’s lips found her neck again. His body was warm and heavy against her, his tongue maddeningly hot and his hands dangerous now that they moved with more confidence, had begun to learn where and how to touch her.

Piper hummed. “Can I help you?”

“I think I’m beyond help,” he replied, his voice raw with renewed hunger.

Her laugh was quickly replaced with a moan as his hand slipped between her thighs. She was beyond help, too.


	29. Chapter 29

Annabeth’s alarm didn’t wake her up Saturday morning, Piper McLean did.

“What are you even doing up?” Annabeth asked, groggy and disoriented. It was just barely five in the morning, which meant it was eight in New York. Eight might be a normal time for normal people, but eight in the morning on a Saturday was a dead hour for Piper.

“I haven’t really slept,” Piper replied, dreamy and giggling. “I’m only calling because Jason went to get breakfast and coffee and now I’m all alone and missing him stupid crazy.”

“Oh my God,” Annabeth said, unable to do anything but laugh.

Piper sighed, and Annabeth could almost perfectly picture the look of contentment on her best friend’s face. The image made her heart ache a little, wishing she could see it in person. Missing Piper first thing in the morning was not exactly what Annabeth expected for her day, but that’s apparently where she was.

“I’ve created a monster,” Piper told her, sounding all too pleased with herself. “An insatiable monster. A very, naturally talented, insatiable monster.”

“Naturally talented,” Annabeth repeated flatly.

With a hum, Piper said, “Gifted might be more accurate.”

“Piper, it’s five in the morning. If you’re going to go into graphic detail I need to have been awake for at least six hours and be two beers deep,” Annabeth said. She was mostly teasing, but only mostly. Whatever details Piper wanted to share Annabeth would listen to without complaint, especially because she knew how special the night had been. It really was too early, though. The conversation would need to happen _later_.

Thankfully, Piper found this hilarious and fell into a fit of giggles. “Fine, fine. I won’t torture you this morning. Although, I will say, everything was very, _very_ … proportionate.”

Annabeth pulled the phone away from her ear and stared blankly at the ceiling, counting to five to keep herself from screaming. “Proportionate,” she echoed after she had collected herself and returned her phone to her ear.

“If you catch my meaning,” Piper continued. “Big hands, big feet, big–”

“I catch your meaning, Piper, thank you,” Annabeth interrupted firmly. “And now I will have to live the rest of my life with _that_ image. Everyone’s going to be teary eyed at your wedding someday and all I’ll be able to think about is _that_.”

“Good,” Piper replied, growing more smug by the second. “I would not have you any other way at my wedding.”

“I’m hanging up before you give me anymore nightmare fodder,” Annabeth told her best friend, though she was smiling despite her best attempts at being annoyed. There was nothing in the world Annabeth loved quite as much as Piper’s happiness and, even from thousands of miles away, she could tell Piper was shining with it.

“Love you,” Piper chimed. “Have a good day.”

“Love you, too,” Annabeth admitted begrudgingly, because, damn, she did love that ridiculous woman. “Try not to hurt yourself.” The last thing she heard was Piper cackling on the other end of the phone, and that sound was wonderfully satisfying. A pleasant warmth spread in Annabeth’s chest as she set her phone aside, glad to know Piper’s dream evening had lived up to all her expectations.

There wasn’t enough time for it to be worth going back to sleep, so Annabeth heaved a heavy sigh, rolled out of bed, and clambered down the stairs to search out something she could eat for breakfast. Matthew was already in the kitchen when she arrived, sitting at the counter with a bowl of cereal and a book open in front of him. He nodded in greeting and turned back to his reading.

Matthew had always been more of a mystery to Annabeth than Bobby, which was really saying something now, considering Bobby had continually surprised her the last week. Annabeth had made herself toast and cut up some avocado – her family did not have cheerios, even thought they knew Annabeth was coming and knew cheerios were her favorite, but whatever – before she finally worked up the courage to say something to him. “Bobby said Dad keeps bugging you about some girl in your class?”

For a second Matthew looked surprised Annabeth had said anything, then he nodded. “Yeah. He doesn’t know how to take no for an answer.”

That sounded like Fredrick Chase, so Annabeth nodded. “Don’t let him bully you.”

Matthew closed his book and sat up, studying Annabeth, seeming to weigh what he wanted to say. Finally, he practically knocked the air out of her with, “Isn’t that what you let him do to you?”

“I don’t… I mean… that’s not…” she struggled to respond, but wasn’t able to formulate a thought, let alone find the right words to express it. He was right, of course, but she had never once imagined he might be aware of it.

“He’s always making snide remarks to you, about you,” Matthew continued when it was clear Annabeth wasn’t able to answer. “He doesn’t recognize anything you’ve accomplished. When you got that big internship last summer, Dad acted like it was the bare minimum you should have done. I got an A minus in algebra last year and he bought me a new phone. I mean, I’m not complaining about the phone, but still.”

“You… you knew about that?” Annabeth asked. She’d posted the acceptance letter on Instagram when she’d gotten it, but as far as she knew her brothers didn’t have accounts, and she hadn’t bothered calling home or trying to make a big deal about it. No one ever cared. At least, she’d always thought no one cared.

Matthew shrugged. “Dad still won’t let us use social media, but Bobs and I have a secret Instagram account we share, just to keep up with friends and stuff. We see all the cool junk you do, at least what you post. You’re our big sister. We miss you.”

“I had no idea,” Annabeth confessed, shamed by this development and humbled by his words.

“Hey, if Dad treated me the way he treats you, I’d be out of this place at the first opportunity, too,” Matthew told her, even going as far as to flash her a reassuring grin. “Just, you know, you shouldn’t let him bully you, either. And post more cool junk for Bobs and me to see on Instagram.”

“I think I can do better than just posting ‘cool junk’ for you,” she assured him, and she found herself especially thankful for the idea Percy had shared with her the previous night. “You and Bobby should come visit. Either for Spring Break, or over the summer.”

The offer made Matthew sit up a little straighter in his seat. “Really?”

“Really,” Annabeth confirmed. “Although… I will admit the idea wasn’t entirely mine. Or mine at all, actually.”

“Whose idea was it? Not Dad’s,” he replied, and Annabeth laughed at the confidence with which he ruled out their father. Their dad would never voluntarily send his precious boys off to spend time alone with Annabeth, that much was sure.

“Percy,” she admitted. “You two made quite an impression on him, and he’s kind of helped me realize I’ve been a shitty sister.”

“Not shitty,” Matthew insisted, and they both smiled, a fragile, tentative connection slowly beginning to develop between them, “but visiting sounds cool. I’m down if Bobs is, and we can convince Dad.”

Annabeth sighed at that last caveat. “I think convincing Dad will be the hard part.”

They continued to talk while Annabeth finished her breakfast, mostly about school, but they didn’t have much time to spare. It wouldn’t be long before their strict morning schedule would start. They both had to get ready. Still, Annabeth was in high spirits as she made her way back upstairs and jumped into the shower.

When she returned to her room, she had a text message from Percy and instantly she was smiling. They hadn’t really texted anything beyond times and places to meet, but she liked the idea that he missed her so much he was making an exception.

**PERCY (07:04AM)**  
leo says, pls bring home a license plate magnet  
don’t actually do it, tho

**ANNABETH (07:25AM)**  
why did you tell me if you don’t want me to do it?

**PERCY (07:34AM)**  
he’d give me hell if i didn’t pass along the msg

**ANNABETH (07:39AM)**  
ask what it’s worth to him.

**PERCY (07:50AM)**  
i refuse to be part of this negotiation

**ANNABETH (08:02AM)**  
you’ll have to give me his number, then.

**PERCY (08:03AM)**  
absolutely not

“Annabeth Chase, you better be down here right this minute!” Fredrick bellowed from the stairs, startling Annabeth so badly she almost dropped her phone. Shit, she’d lost track of time and it was past eight, when she was supposed to be downstairs and ready to go.

**ANNABETH (08:04AM)**  
running late. will make offer for leo’s number later, assuming i’m not executed for tardiness.

At least Annabeth had been mostly ready when her dad hollered for her, makeup and hair being the most time consuming part of the morning’s process and thankfully already done between texts. All she had to do was pull on her fuzzy pink sweater and slip into her pleated skirt. It wasn’t at all her usual style, but it matched the family next door aesthetic her dad was going for in his spread. With her blonde curls braided down one side and a light gloss on her lips, Annabeth looked more like the girl who’d once lived there than the young woman who’d made a life for herself in New York. 

She hated it. Oh well.

Everyone was waiting in the living room when Annabeth arrived, everyone including Luke and his wife Penelope. Annabeth said an awkward apology and went to take a seat on one of the couches next to Bobby without giving much attention to the new arrivals. He leaned in and whispered, “Mats told me about visiting. We definitely want to.”

Despite everything, Annabeth couldn’t help smiling. “Cool. We can try to hash out some details before I leave.”

That morning was definitely not the time, though, because Fredrick Chase cleared his throat and went into a detailed explanation of what he expected from everyone. Some of it was reiterated from the night before, which Annabeth found annoying, but she listened attentively and made sure she knew exactly where he expected her to be and when. One time she made eye contact with Matthew across the living room and he rolled his eyes, making her need to smother a smile.

Having Bobby and Matthew on her side made it easier to deal with Luke’s presence. Sure, they had no idea about Annabeth’s history, but she at least didn’t feel alone. She had brothers, brothers who cared so much about her they included her in the people they snuck around on Instagram for, risking their father’s wrath. Her relationships with them were new and untested, and she didn’t want to ask much of them with how absentee she’d been all those years, but they could work on strengthening bonds later. Just having them there was enough for the moment.

By the time Fredrick finished his rant, they had about fifteen minutes until the reporter was scheduled to arrive, so he “allowed” them time to do whatever they wanted until then. Annabeth immediately had her phone out, pleased to see Percy had replied.

**PERCY (08:06AM)**  
if ur executed, i’ll avenge u   
i will not, however, negotiate for leo’s number. it’s off the table

**ANNABETH (08:46AM)**  
no executions at this time. are you sure, though? you haven’t even heard my offer.

**PERCY (08:48AM)**  
there is nothing u could offer that would be worth the massive pain in my ass an alliance between u n leo would create

“Is that Percy?” Bobby asked, and when Annabeth looked up at him he was grinning.

She tried to wince, but her own smile was too broad. “That obvious?”

Bobby nodded, but before he could say anything else, their father interrupted, “Don’t be on that thing while the reporter is here. Have a little decency, Annabeth.”

“I’m sorry?” Annabeth said, taken aback. Not once in her life had Annabeth been the type to be on her phone during important events. Sometimes she turned it off just for the sake of focusing on homework, at least when she knew Piper was around to relay anything in an emergency.

“Just don’t embarrass me,” he replied coolly. “This is important.”

Instinct had her automatically shrinking away from him, but Matthew caught her eye across the room and she knew she couldn’t just sit there and take it. “I’ve never done anything to embarrass you,” she said, her voice shakier than she would have liked, but clear and resolute. “I’m not a child and I don’t appreciate being treated like one. I think I’ve done enough over the years to deserve a little respect.”

The room hadn’t exactly been chatter filled before, but the silence that settled over everyone was thick and heavy. All eyes were on Fredrick, while he glared at Annabeth. She felt her resolve wavering, an apology threatening to form on her lips, but one more look at Matthew reminded her that she wasn’t just standing up for herself. Annabeth raised her chin in a silent challenge, refusing to back down.

They never found out what would come of Annabeth’s stand, because the doorbell rang and Fredrick swore under his breath. “I’ll get the door,” Annabeth’s step-mother said gently, and hurried to do just that.

When their father was turned away, straightening his jacket to prepare to greet his interviewer, Bobby reached over and gave Annabeth’s shoulder a supportive squeeze.

She was not alone. She never had been.


	30. Chapter 30

Piper was exhausted, her body sore in the most magnificent ways, and she had never been so happy in her life.

During Jason’s run for coffee and food, after first calling Annabeth to share the _wonderful_ news of their lovemaking, Piper picked Jason’s shirt off the floor (he’d put on a fresh one to make his run) and slipped it on in lieu of any of her own clothes. Buttons were missing, but she made it work. Wearing it made her feel closer to him, and even though he’d only been gone a little over ten minutes, she already missed him.

“Are you trying to torture me?” he asked the moment he set eyes on her, returned with breakfast pastries and coffee from Piper’s favorite cafe. It had taken him an excruciating twenty more minutes after she’d donned his shirt and settled herself on the couch. “You look even sexier in that than you did last night.”

“Yes,” she answered, “for leaving me.”

“You were the one who was hungry!” he cried in disbelief, but he was laughing, too. Piper had a feeling there was nothing she could do that morning to make Jason actually upset.

“Sure sounds like a convenient excuse,” Piper said, shrugging, deciding to really ham up the displeased act.

Jason set the bag of pastries and their drinks on the coffee table, then leaned over her and pressed one palm against the side of her face. Piper waited with baited breath for him to kiss her, reminded of the teasing way he’d left her hanging on their first date. She’d thought then that he was playing with her, and she’d found it incredibly sexy, but she realized later he was just shy and it became impossibly sexier. 

This morning he looked so good she wanted to devour him a dozen times over. His grin was perpetual, unfading, and he walked with a newfound confidence. He wore a simple t-shirt and jeans, an uncommon choice for him, but God did he know how to work it. Jason wasn’t the only one being tortured.

“If you’re not hungry, then, I’ll have to eat it all myself,” he whispered, his lips lingering just out of her reach, and he pulled away.

On their first date she’d let him walk away. That would not be happening again. Piper hooked her fingers into the waist band of his jeans and pulled him down, twisting so she could climb on top of him before he could get away. “You’re not going to be eating anything until you kiss me, Mr. Grace.”

His wicked hands were already on the backs of her thighs, inching up until they were on her ass and squeezing. “It seems you’re not wearing any underwear, Miss McLean.”

“I have no need for them today,” she answered.

Jason groaned and finally kissed her. He wasn’t in his clothes much longer.

By the time they got to their coffee it was cold, but for once Piper had no complaints. They curled up together on the couch while they ate, Jason in nothing but his underwear, Piper in nothing but his shirt.

“Did you call Annabeth?” Jason asked, alternating between taking drinks of his coffee and trailing kisses along her shoulder. Piper nodded, and he asked, “How was she?”

“She was asleep. I maybe forgot about the time difference and didn’t think to text first,” Piper answered.

Jason pressed his face into the crook of her neck and laughed. His breath was hot and the way his chest rumbled made her toes curl. “You’re causing all kinds of trouble today, aren’t you?” he asked.

“I’m sure she needed to be up soon anyway,” Piper replied with a shrug, feeling no shame. She’d enjoyed that short conversation with her best friend very much and wouldn’t have had it any other way.

“Maybe I should give her a call, too,” Jason mused, leaning back and settling comfortably into the couch.

“Why?” Piper asked with a quiet laugh.

“I need to ask her why the hell you have a minion tattooed on your cute little ass,” he replied, his brow furrowing as if the thought concerned him deeply. Piper’s lips turned into a pout and she shoved at him as if trying to get away. Jason’s arm only tightened around her, making it impossible for her to escape.

She gave up on her halfhearted struggle and whined, “I knew you’d think my ass was small.”

He grunted with disapproval, his hand sliding down from where his arm had been secured around her waist to slip under the shirt she wore and give her ass a gentle pat. “I love this ass, Miss McLean. It’s all mine, minion tattoo and all.”

“I was drunk,” Piper explained, feeling pleased over Jason’s claiming of her ass, “and Bob is the cutest minion. Just made sense he should be on my butt.”

“You’re very strange,” he said contentedly, not removing his hand from where it rested even as his eyes fluttered closed. “And I really do love you.”

Piper pressed a kiss against his shoulder and smiled. “I really do love you, too.”

With food in their stomachs, they both became increasingly drowsy, touches turning lazy, kisses slow. They didn’t even bother leaving the couch, but Piper felt just as comfortable as she ever did in bed. She pulled a fleece blanket over them and burrowed down. Jason’s body was warm, his breathing increasingly soothing as he drifted off to sleep first. Tiring him out so thoroughly left her feeling accomplished, and she wore a smile as she soon joined him in a much needed and well earned nap.

Piper definitely hadn’t had enough sleep when Jason started coaxing her awake with a whispered, “Pipes, we should get up. It’s after two.”

“I don’t wanna,” she whined, rolling over to hide her face in his chest, as if hiding against Jason would hide her from him. “A few more hours.”

“No more hours,” he said with a laugh, rubbing her arm. “Let’s take a shower, maybe go get a late lunch.”

A smile crept across her face, her fingers dancing across his abdomen. She felt his muscles flex under her touch, a sensation she found delightful. “A shower, you say? Together?”

Unfortunately, they were both still too tired to have too much fun in the shower, but Piper enjoyed herself all the same. Their newfound intimacy was just as great as the sex itself, maybe even better. They laughed and teased each other, which wasn’t an unusual occurrence in and of itself, but for once Jason was just as quick to zing her as he was to accept her zings.

Jason seemed almost like a different person. While he was usually calm, Piper would never describe him as laid back. Today he was more relaxed, a perpetual tension in his shoulders having melted away. Piper was certain it was more than just the pleasure helping him blow off steam. He’d learned to let go, at least temporarily, and that letting go could have very wonderful results.

“Has Annabeth said if Percy’s coming to the wedding?” Jason asked, a little over an hour later. They were clean, unfortunately dressed, and preparing to head out for that late lunch he’d suggested. Piper hadn’t wanted to go anywhere, but Jason wanted to get some fresh air and going out together was better than him going to get it himself and leaving her alone in the apartment again. She supposed the fresh air would do her some good, too, maybe help give her a second wind.

Piper shook her head as she tied her shoe laces. “I don’t think she’s asked him yet, but I have a feeling she will,” she answered. “Are you… going to be okay if he goes? We haven’t really talked about how you feel being around him.”

Jason considered the question carefully. Piper was a little sad to see some of the tense, contemplative Jason returning, but the spell they’d spent the night and morning under couldn’t have lasted forever. Maybe when they got back she could revive it for a bit longer. Finally, he seemed to decide on an answer. “I think I’ll be fine. Reyna hates him, but Nico is…”

“Nico’s in love with him,” Piper finished for Jason. “Or was?”

“I’m not sure which,” Jason confirmed. He looked a little guilty about it, but continued, “and I don’t really know Hazel well myself, but you already know she adores Percy. If the two of them are okay with him, it only seems fair to give the guy a chance, especially considering he’s apparently a wizard with Annabeth.”

Piper had set her chin in her palm and was watching him, feeling like her affection for the logical, kind man before her might actually overwhelm her and flood the entire city. The look on her face must have seemed strange in the moment, because he asked, “What?”

“You lay it out in a way that sounds so clinical, logical,” she explained, getting up to walk over to him and slip her arms around his waist, “but your conclusion is based in thoughtfulness and consideration for the people you care about. I’m just trying to figure out how you manage to balance both so expertly.”

His smile returned, his shoulders relaxed, and he leaned in to kiss her. They might have gotten tangled up in each other and forgotten all about their plan to get lunch, had Piper’s phone not started to ring. “Let me reject this call real quick,” Piper mumbled against his lips, pulling her phone from her pocket and looking at the screen.

Her finger almost hit the red button to decline the call, but she saw Annabeth’s picture displayed on the screen and managed to stop herself. It wasn’t exactly weird for Annabeth to call. Usually they just texted, but on occasion they called when they wanted to talk about something that would take too long to type out, or, in times like this when one of them was away, when they just missed each other – missing Annabeth had been a large part of why Piper had called that morning. She didn’t think Annabeth would be calling back so soon just to hear the gratuitous details of Piper’s sex filled night and morning, though.

Instinct told Piper something was wrong.

Jason immediately noticed her look of concern and asked, “Who is it?”

“Annabeth,” Piper replied, then held up a finger as she accepted the call and put her phone to her ear. “Hey, what’s up?”

The first thing she noticed was Annabeth crying, even before the other spoke. Piper’s temper flared, concern turning straight to anger in a heartbeat. She waited for Annabeth to speak, though, knowing that pushing her to talk wouldn’t accomplish anything. When Annabeth was upset, patience was always the best course of action.

“I need a flight home,” Annabeth said, then sniffled. “I’m not sure how much longer my credit card is going to work. I’ll pay you back.”

“No, you won’t,” Piper automatically chided – her dad probably wouldn’t even notice the charge on her credit card statement, if he looked at it, and Piper loved any excuse to spend a little extra money, which meant the idea of paying her back was idiotic – then pulled her phone away from her face momentarily to whisper to Jason, “Can you get my laptop? It’s back in my room.”

Jason looked confused and slightly concerned, but he nodded once and rushed off. Piper returned her attention to the call. It was hard to keep her voice even with the storm of emotions she was already feeling, but she knew calm was what her best friend needed. “Annabeth, what happened?”

“I just…” Annabeth faltered, letting out a hysterical sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob. “It just all came spilling out, like a dam broke. I don’t know what happened. I’ve never seen him that mad.”

“Hold on, I just got my laptop,” Piper said gently as Jason appeared with said laptop. He set it on the dining table and the two of them took seats beside each other. She pulled her phone away once again and this time covered the microphone with her hand. “I’m putting her on speaker so I can work while she talks. If you hear anything you don’t think she’d want you to know–”

“I’ll forget it,” he agreed without hesitation.

“I love you,” she told him, unable to stop the corners of her mouth from twitching upward. She hit speakerphone and set her device down on the table, fingers fluttering over her laptop’s keyboard at near light speed. “I’m back, Annabeth, working on that flight. What were you saying?”

“We were having lunch,” Annabeth explained, her voice strained, breathing ragged. “He just… he started talking about… God, he’s so insufferable. And I just lost it. I couldn’t take it anymore. And in front of everyone: my brothers, my step-mom, Penelope, even the fucking journalist. I just told them all, like it was nothing. Now it’s… he’s cutting me off. Oh God, Piper, he’s really cutting me off.”

“And that’s fine,” Piper told her, trying to continue to keep her voice calm even as nausea began to set in, “because you have me, and your tuition is paid, and you can get a job if you need to. But, Annabeth… what exactly did you tell them?”

It should have been obvious, but Piper wanted so badly for it to be something, anything else, that she needed to hear it straight from Annabeth’s mouth. As Annabeth made that hysterical, sob-laugh sound again, Piper’s stomach dropped even further. This wasn’t the way Annabeth’s weekend was supposed to go, not after how hard she’d fought. Forget Annabeth’s flight home, Piper had half a mind to book herself a flight _there_ just so she could commit a couple acts of homicide.

“Luke,” Annabeth said, confirming Piper’s worst fear. “I told them about Luke.”


	31. Chapter 31

The reporter who was sent to interview Fredrick Chase was a young woman by the name of Nancy Bobofit who suffered from a major case of RBF. Annabeth suffered from Resting Bitch Face herself, but Nancy had a serious, extreme level of bitch at which her face rested. If Annabeth had to interview guys like Fredrick Chase for a living, though, her RBF might get that bad too, so she couldn’t really hold it against the woman, even if she did kind of remind Annabeth of every school bully she’d ever known.

The Chase Clan greeted her warmly. Annabeth’s father was especially jovial toward their guest and her photographer, a bulky guy with shaggy hair and a chipped front tooth named Matt Sloan. Considering how important the whole interview supposedly was, he looked like he hadn’t paid much attention to what he was wearing, and a little like he hadn’t bothered to shower that day. Whether anyone else in her family noticed or cared, Annabeth never knew.

First thing, they did a group photo shoot in the living room. Annabeth and her step-mom were seated on either side of Fredrick on the couch, with the twins perched on the arms beside them. Once they’d taken a thousand of just the family, Nancy asked for pictures of Fredrick with Luke and Penelope. Satisfied, she started dragging them around the house, into the backyard, out on the front porch, taking pictures of everyone in their respective rooms and of Fredrick in his office, getting what seemed like a thousand shots in each location and shuffling them off again.

After over an hour of photo taking, they all settled back in the living room to begin the interviews. Annabeth’s step-mom brought out refreshments, but none of the Chase kids dared touch them. Refreshments were for adults, and in this house, Annabeth supposed, the three of them would never be considered adults.

“Who would you say is your biggest inspiration when writing?” Nancy asked. She had a notebook on her lap and a recorder set out on the coffee table between her and her photographer’s coffee cups. They were almost an hour deep into the interview already and the questions had all been the boring, basic things Annabeth had heard people ask her father hundreds of times before. To her credit, even Nancy seemed annoyed by the banality of her own questions and Annabeth got the impression they had been fed through the PR team at her dad’s publishing company.

Fredrick gave a sickly sweet smile and turned to his wife. Annabeth already knew what he would say, almost word for word. “This woman right here. There’s nothing in this world more important to me than the family we’ve built together.”

“Your own children are getting older, growing up,” Nancy observed, bored. “Have you taken inspiration from their real life experiences when writing the children in _Fury and Family_?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Fredrick confirmed. “My daughter, Annabeth, has been away in New York for college. She’ll be graduating in a few months. Letting your children go out into the world, on their own, it’s terrifying, but fulfilling.”

Annabeth had to make a conscious decision not to scoff, as if he hadn’t sent her off into the world on her own when she’d been all of twelve years old. That was Nancy’s cue to ask Annabeth a question. “Miss Chase, you’re finishing up college. Will you be coming home when you’ve finished your education?”

Fredrick was glaring daggers at her, waiting for her to slip up and say the wrong thing, but Annabeth smiled and delivered a flattering response. “I’m an architecture major, so I’ll probably end up staying in New York City. Most of the top firms have headquarters there, so it would make most sense to put my roots down there, even if I know my father would much rather have me home.”

“Do your friends know your father is such a celebrated author?” Nancy asked. Annabeth wasn’t sure if her ears were deceiving her, but it sounded like Nancy struggled to say celebrated in a properly respectful tone.

This time Annabeth didn’t even have to think of a way to skirt around the truth. “They do. It’s a regular topic of conversation.” A regular target of their mocking, more like, but the statement was still true enough.

“How do they react when you tell them?”

A harder question to skirt around, and Annabeth considered just outright lying, but her mind was quick and she picked the perfect truth out without missing a beat. “Actually, my best friend has recently started dating a young man, and we got on the subject a couple weeks ago. His mother is the actress Beryl Grace. I’m sure you’ve heard, she was recently cast in one of the lead roles for the television adaptation? Well, you can imagine how amazed he was to find out my dad was the author. My best friend even got the first book out and started reading her favorite bits to him this last week.”

“What a small world,” Nancy said, her eyes suddenly lighting up, as if she was already searching for some way to turn that revelation into a scoop of some kind. Annabeth even noticed her father looking a little impressed. She hadn’t mentioned Jason before, so it was news to him, too. Nancy continued, significantly more interested in the interview, “Are you seeing anyone at the moment, Annabeth?”

Before Annabeth could answer, her father intercepted the question. “Annabeth is very studious. She’s kept focused on her work, not had time for dating.”

Being spoken over always made Annabeth bristle, and she felt emboldened by her earlier foray into standing up to her father, so she ignored the obvious hint to shut up he was giving her even though she otherwise might have deflected the question herself. 

“Please excuse my father, I think he’s trying to protect my privacy,” she started, forcing a polite laugh and covering for him with ease so he’d have no valid reason to be mad at her for contradicting him. “Actually, I’ve started seeing someone recently. He wanted to be here this weekend, but we thought it might be a little too soon to be making big trips together. I miss him terribly, though. I think for the first time I’m beginning to understand all those emotions my dad pours into his work.”

“How romantic,” Nancy said, intuitive eyes flashing between Annabeth and Fredrick. “Is this your first relationship, then? Your father made it sound like you haven’t had time before now.”

Everyone was expecting her to confirm it was, at least everyone but the interviewer herself, which was why Annabeth couldn’t help being contrary one more time. “It’s not my first relationship, no, although it’s been almost five years since my last, and it is the first my father has been aware of. It’s also the first… the first that really matters.”

This seemed to satisfy Nancy’s curiosity where Annabeth was concerned, at least for the moment, but there was a sparkle in her eye that made Annabeth think there would be more questions for her before the interview was over. Keeping to her script, though, Nancy turned to the twins and began to ask about their lives and plans after high school.

Annabeth crossed her legs and relaxed back on the couch, feeling quite pleased with herself as she observed the dual glares being pointed at her – Fredrick and Luke both, though she knew for very different reasons. Let them be angry. Let them stew in it the same way she had for as long as she could remember. Let Fredrick realize his daughter would no longer be pushed around. Let Luke realize the truth about what he’d done was a tenuous secret at best. She was shifting the balance of power, finally taking some for herself.

During a break in the interview for everyone to stretch their legs, Fredrick appeared at Annabeth’s side and said in a forceful whisper, “Don’t contradict me again.”

Not even bothering to look up from her phone, she replied, “Don’t speak over me and I won’t have to.”

“You’re on thin ice,” he warned through a clenched jaw.

Annabeth looked up then, but she wasn’t intimidated by the anger she saw in him, she was just tired of it. “Maybe,” she conceded, “but I don’t think I care anymore.”

He looked like he was about to spit something especially vile, but Nancy called his name, his mask of insincere genteelness returned, and he went to see what she needed from him. Annabeth was hopeful this meant she could enjoy the rest of this short break in peace, but Luke appeared at her side almost immediately after.

“That’s a dangerous line you decided to toe there, Annabeth,” Luke said, leaned in so close she could smell the coffee on his breath. Her stomach churned and her fingers clung to her phone tightly. “I know your father well. I doubt he’d be sympathetic if you made a scene about us today.”

“And your wife?” Annabeth challenged. She did her best to keep her expression neutral, her breathing even, especially when she noticed Bobby was watching the two of them. It was easier said than done, but she refused to let herself be weakened by his words. “Where would her sympathy lie if she knew that you’d been with me the entire summer you got engaged?”

“Penelope is a good, loyal woman,” he said, and though Annabeth wasn’t looking at him directly she could hear the smile in his voice. “She doesn’t blame me for my… indiscretions while she was away. She wouldn’t even blame me if I couldn’t help myself now. You’re the only one with things to lose here.”

“Then why are you the only one scared right now?” she asked, glad to find her voice wasn’t wavering.

“I’m worried for you,” Luke lied, though he put the act on so thick she could almost believe he meant it. His honeyed words no longer worked on her, though. She knew how empty and self serving they actually were. “And if I were you, I’d steer clear of the Grace family, too,” he added, his voice a little lower.

That comment caught her so off guard, she finally turned her head to look at him. “I don’t need or want your opinion on my friends, Luke.”

“Think what you want about me, Annabeth,” he said, leaning in closer and making her recoil, the usual veneer he presented momentarily disappearing into something more genuine, something a little frightening, “but I’m being serious. Nothing good ever comes from associating with those people.”

They didn’t get to finish the conversation as Fredrick started calling the group back to order to continue their lengthy interview. Annabeth took her seat back on the couch, still having to fight to keep herself calm and collected so she could put on a believable front. She didn’t have a chance to ask Bobby about the strange look on his face when he sat down next to her, either.

It was harder for Annabeth to focus moving forward. Her fingers itched to pull out her phone and finish the text to Percy she’d been interrupted sending. She wanted to yell to Piper about the audacity of both her own father and Luke. Part of her even wanted to ask Luke what the hell he’d been talking about. She also just kind of wanted to check the news, because for some reason that had always been a soothing pastime for her – better to focus on the existential problems of the world at large than her personal issues.

Few questions were directed at her as the interview continued. Most of them were asked of her father and Luke, about their long relationship as student and mentor, about the work they continued to do together. No matter how bored or annoyed she got, though, Annabeth continued to listen attentively, smiling and laughing at the appropriate times, even when she really wanted to gag.

They adjourned for lunch and Annabeth assisted her step-mother serving their meal without even having to be asked and, just like the evening before, without so much as a thankful smile in return.

She wasn’t particularly hungry, so she mostly pushed her food around on her plate and listened as others spoke. Nancy had assured them they were off the record while they ate, but the conversation remained formal and casual all the same and Annabeth felt no qualms about zoning out. If it hadn’t been for Matthew nudging her with his elbow, she would have missed the question asked of her altogether.

“Sorry?” she said, looking to Nancy.

Nancy snorted a laugh, an unprofessional sound Annabeth was sure her father was mentally snubbing his nose at. “I was just wondering about the boyfriend you mentioned earlier. You said he wanted to be here this weekend, must be really special if he’s already willing to brave meeting the family.”

“We’ve already met Percy, actually,” Bobby told her. “He was at the gala last weekend.”

“Well, then I’ll have to hunt down a picture for the article,” Nancy said, her eyes beginning to sparkle. “Sloan, do you have the photos from Sunday? We’ll have to ask Annabeth to help us find a good one.”

Annabeth was about to say she should check with Percy first, but Fredrick said instead, “I think it would be better to leave the boy out of it, if you don’t mind, Miss Bobofit.”

Taken aback on her father’s complete one-eighty, Annabeth couldn’t stop herself from saying, “You were the one who invited him this weekend to begin with. What’s wrong with using a picture from the gala?”

Fredrick seemed uncomfortable being asked the question in front of his guests, but he maintained his composure fairly well as he replied, “I was going to speak with you before you left, but I asked around a little about that boy and I really don’t think it’s appropriate for you to continue seeing him.”

“You don’t think it’s appropriate,” Annabeth echoed. There it was, that word again.

“There are quite a few rumors surrounding that boy,” he replied, firm and fatherly. Annabeth realized he was putting on yet another show for Nancy – the protective, caring father – using Annabeth as a pawn, the way he always did. She also hated how he continued to call Percy _that boy_ when, as far as Annabeth was concerned, Percy was a bigger man than either of the older men at that very table. “I mistakenly encouraged you on Sunday, distracted by his accomplishments, but after hearing a few rather unsavory things I’ll have to put my foot down, for your sake.”

“For my sake,” Annabeth repeated again, and it was so absurd she laughed. Not a humorless, bitter laugh, an honest sound of complete amusement. For a second she tried to contain her laughter, covering her mouth with a hand, but his words were so absolutely insane that a dam broke in her mind and soon she had tears in her eyes, all control lost. 

He couldn’t really think she would just sit back and let him tell her what to do, end a relationship because Daddy _put his foot down_. She might have been at his beck and call for years, but it had never extended beyond the expectation of making appearances and having her picture taken. Not once had he taken an interest in her actual life. Talking about unsavory rumors, trying to tell her what was and wasn’t appropriate, when he’d been completely oblivious to, too busy to care about, Luke’s behavior right under his own roof was too ridiculous for her mind to process.

The only reason Annabeth was there at all was to put on a show for him, and she knew this was just part of it. Even if it was off the record, even if it didn’t wind up in the article, Nancy would go back to her magazine and whisper about the amazing, protective father watching out for his daughter even while she lived on the other side of the country. Annabeth was tired of being used.

“ _You_ ,” Annabeth said to her father, twisting the three letter word like it was something foul, her laughter turning to the threat of a sob, “you lost the right to have any say about what is and isn’t appropriate, for my sake, years ago.”

“Annabeth Chase, I am your father, and I will not be spoken to that way,” he said coolly.

“A father, a real father, would have at the very least noticed when his twenty-five year old assistant started fucking his daughter the second she turned eighteen,” Annabeth said, all her humor gone, leaving her with nothing but ice cold bitterness. “If you really cared about anything for my sake, you would have known and kicked Luke to the curb the second he laid a hand on me. You would have heard rumors about _him_ and you would have kept him out of this house even before he did. And you certainly wouldn’t have let it drag on for an entire summer, right here under your nose.”

No one spoke, or even dared to scrape a fork against a plate. All Annabeth saw was Fredrick Chase, his face beginning to turn red, a vein popping up in his forehead, with rage aimed at her, and she didn’t care. It didn’t matter that he was mad at her.

“I know what you’ve heard about Percy,” she continued, assuming those rumors were about however Bianca di Angelo had died, “and I would bet anything the reason you care has nothing to do with me. So, go ahead and put your foot down. I’m done giving a shit, because you never gave a shit about me. I was never the daughter you wanted, well, guess what? You were never the father I wanted, either.

“And that,” Annabeth said, finally pulling her gaze from her father and looking to Nancy, “is something you’re welcome to quote me on.”

Annabeth threw her napkin down on the table and stood. She was fully aware every set of eyes in the room was on her and it didn’t bother her in the slightest. They were welcome to sit there in shock for as long as they needed while she rushed up the stairs and to her room. Hastily, she packed up the few things she had sitting around and collected her luggage, pausing only long enough for her fingers to fly across her phone screen as she ordered herself an Uber.

About to storm out of the house entirely, she paused at her bedroom door and looked at her bed. For once she wasn’t reliving unpleasant memories, though, instead focusing on a single floorboard near the bottom of the metal frame. Annabeth dropped her bags and went straight for it, prying the board up with her fingers like she had a thousand times before. The stack of Luke’s letters were right where she’d left them, covered in dust and cobwebs that sent shivers down her spine to put her hands through, slightly yellowed, but untouched.

Her detour had given her father enough time to recover and appear at the top of the stairs before she could leave. “Don’t you dare take another step,” he warned her, voice quiet, but anger smoldering. “If you walk out now, you never come back. I’ll have your credit cards frozen before you even make it to the airport. It’s not too late for me to get your tuition refunded, either. Come back down, apologize to Miss Bobofit for your outburst, and once she leaves, apologize to Luke for the way you’ve embarrassed him.”

“The last thing,” Annabeth said through gritted teeth, “I would ever do, no matter what you threaten me with, is apologize to Luke Castellan. I’d walk out that door with absolutely nothing, not event the clothes on my back, before I ever even considered it. So, do it. Cancel my cards. Take back my tuition. Kick me out of this hellhole you call a home. I don’t care. I don’t need you and I’m not apologizing, not now, not ever.”

Before Fredrick could get another word in, she shouldered past him and down the stairs, her suitcase banging against each step. Her phone buzzed to announce her car had arrived, and she thanked her lucky stars she’d at least have the fare paid before he could cancel her cards. She took one small detour, though.

A tense, awkward silence was held over the sitting room everyone had cleared out to. All eyes were on her again as she walked straight through the group and to Penelope. “You might be able to forgive him for the sex,” Annabeth told her, thinking about what Luke had said on their break that morning, “but maybe these won’t be so easy to look past.” She pressed her pile of letters into the other woman’s hands, letters that had been written over the course of an entire year, full of feigned romantic sentiment and sweet nothings crafted to manipulate an impressionable young girl into thinking she was anything more than a plaything.

Annabeth was out the door without waiting to hear what anyone else had to say to her. The Uber driver loaded her bags into the trunk and she was about to get in the backseat when Bobby called, “Sis, wait!” Matthew was right behind him, both of them practically jumping the front steps.

She asked the driver for a minute and promised him a big tip in return – it would be her last act of defiance, giving that driver as much as possible, and she looked forward to the satisfaction it would give her. For once she understood why Piper enjoyed throwing Tristan McLean’s money around so much.

“I’m sorry, I can’t stay,” she told them, her chest aching. Her brothers had suddenly become important to her, and just as quickly she was losing them. Fredrick wouldn’t be letting them visit or contact her any time soon after this. There would be no apologies for her father, not even an apologetic thought for Luke, but Bobby and Matthew at the very least deserved one.

“I know,” Bobby assured her, his usually cheerful expression weighed down by concern. “Mats and I… we know. We knew.”

It should have surprised her, but they’d been surprising her with what they knew all weekend. The twins had been twelve that summer, still kids, but plenty old enough. A hint of her old shame returned at the thought of them knowing, imagining how they might have found out, what they must have thought of her, both then and now – and with a nauseating pang in her stomach, she wondered if their father had known all along too, if this wasn’t a surprise to him, either. Whether the twins understood the magnitude of what she’d been through or not, though, they stood before her without judgment.

“Take this,” Matthew told her, pushing a small bundle of cash into her hand. “It’s not much, but it’s all we had on us.”

“We heard Dad say he was cutting you off,” Bobby explained, his nose wrinkled. “It should at least be enough to get yourself a meal or drink or something. Sorry we don’t have more.”

All of her confident rage shattered, and the sob that had been building in her chest finally broke free. “ _I’m_ sorry,” she repeated, not sure what else to say to her brothers, those sweet boys who’d been an afterthought to her for so long. What a hypocrite she’d been.

They hugged her tight, like they knew just as well as she did how long it would probably be before they saw each other again, and tears spilled from her eyes freely.

“Get home safe, Sis,” Bobby told her.

“You were pretty badass back there,” Matthew added, and she couldn’t help barking a laugh through the tears. “We’re proud of you.”

“Thanks,” she said weakly. There was nothing else she could say. She couldn’t promise them anything, knowing their father would likely do everything in his power to keep her away from them, but she put a wish into the universe as she looked at them one last time, a wish that fate might give them another chance before long. They waved and let her slide into the backseat of her car.

As the car pulled away Annabeth took two deep breaths, picked up her phone, and called Piper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sorry i didn't have time to reply to your comments on the last chapter! i was a little under the weather, and today i'm pretty busy, but i wanted to get this chapter out at least on time since the last chapter came with that cliffhanger. huhu. you're all so wonderful and make this so rewarding for me. i hope this was a satisfactory follow up! ♥


	32. Chapter 32

Ten hours passed between Piper answering Annabeth’s call in the mid-afternoon and when her flight finally landed safely back in New York. Ten hours of worry and anger and Jason trying to curb the worst of Piper’s murderous tendencies. Ten hours of Piper’s own worst nightmare, knowing her best friend needed her and being too far away to be of any real help.

In the first hour she secured Annabeth’s flight. As they suspected, by the time Annabeth had arrived at the airport, her credit cards had all been frozen. Piper almost panicked, but Annabeth had enough cash to make it through thanks to her brothers, Bobby and Matthew, and Jason gently reminded her that technology was a thing and Piper was able to transfer a little extra money electronically just in case of emergency.

In the second hour, Piper called Percy. Annabeth was worried he’d freak out if she called him herself while she was still a crying mess, but she wanted to make sure he knew what was going on. That was an uncomfortable conversation, but the least Piper was willing to do in that terrible and unending period of _waiting_.

In the third hour, Percy arrived at their apartment. It was awkward, just Piper, Jason and Percy, but also oddly comforting. Dependability was Jason’s middle name, and Piper was thankful for his calm handling of the situation, his constant assurances and offers to get her anything she needed. It was also nice to have Percy there with her, though, just as mad, just as restless as they suffered through what felt like an eternity.

In the fourth hour, Annabeth’s phone got cut off. It was right before her flight, and they wouldn’t have been able to reach her during it anyway, but when Annabeth called from a payphone (honestly, Piper didn’t even know they still had those) outside her gate to report she was no longer receiving service, Piper really wanted to get her hands around Fredrick Chase’s throat and choke all the air right out of him. Not having a phone wasn’t just an inconvenience, it could potentially put Annabeth in danger.

At hour five, Percy excused himself to make a few calls in the hallway outside the apartment. He’d already called out from work, so Piper wasn’t sure what he was doing, but he soon returned and sat heavily on the couch, his brow furrowed, staring blankly ahead. Neither she nor Jason asked what it was about and Percy didn’t offer.

By hour six they were all about to lose their minds. Jason was the one who realized they hadn’t eaten, and he went out to get them sandwiches. Piper couldn’t believe it had been just earlier that day she hadn’t been able to bear the thought of being apart from him for even half an hour. All she could think about now was Annabeth.

Toward the end of hour seven, they decided to head to the airport. They didn’t want to risk Saturday night traffic making them late to meet her, and the idea of sitting still in that apartment for even a second longer made Piper feel like screaming. Percy drove. Being behind the wheel, in control of something, seemed to soothe him. Piper envied him that outlet.

They got to the airport in hour eight. There was a tiny little coffee shop outside security at arrivals and they all decided to get themselves drinks and pastries, just for something to do. Piper would have preferred alcohol to coffee, but she made due with what she had. In that first hour alone she got through two and a half cups of coffee. The caffeine only made her anxiety worse, but she kept drinking until it seemed like she was about to bounce right out of her seat and Jason cut her off.

Hour nine was the worst. It dragged on forever. Every time Piper checked her phone it felt like only two minutes had passed. Percy went out to check Annabeth’s flight status and returned with the terrible news that it was running about twenty minutes late. Someone really needed to figure out a quicker way to travel such long distances.

Finally, miraculously, they made it to hour ten. 

Piper was a nervous, jittery mess from the coffee, an absolutely selfish thing considering Annabeth was the one who had just been through hell, but she knew Annabeth wouldn’t be mad at her. Annabeth never got mad at her about anything, no matter how reckless or stupid she was. Every time she’d landed herself in a mess, messes entirely of her own making, Annabeth had been there to pull her out of it and put all the pieces back together. Not once did Annabeth pass judgment or lay blame. From that first time in sixth grade, when she’d comforted brokenhearted Piper by promising to stick together on Parents’ Day, through all the stupid relationship choices, the flunked classes, the angry fits, the worst days, Annabeth had been there to save her.

It was Piper’s turn now. Despite the way her hands shook, she stood tall while they waited outside security, scanning every face that passed by, hoping it would be the only one that mattered.

Her heart felt like it was going to burst right out of her chest when she finally spotted Annabeth coming through the crowd of arrivals exiting security. It was so stupid, but of all the ways she had imagined Annabeth looking, _cute_ wasn’t one of them. Piper couldn’t help but laugh. Annabeth must not have bothered to change out of the outfit she’d worn for that stupid interview, because that was the only reason Piper could imagine Annabeth had been wearing a fuzzy sweater and pleated skirt like some super preppy high schooler.

Laughing must have been the right thing to do, because Annabeth stopped a few feet away and joined her, the two of them standing there in the middle of the airport laughing like the last ten hours hadn’t been torture for both of them. Annabeth’s face was weary with exhaustion, her eyes bloodshot and swollen, but she looked so relieved to be home. Piper rushed to her, closing those last few feet in an instant and crushing Annabeth in an embrace.

They held onto each other for dear life. Eventually their laughter turned to tears and somehow they managed to cling to each other even tighter. All the tension and anger that had built up in Piper’s chest since the moment Annabeth had called seemed to melt away. They were together. As long as that was true, they would be okay.

Piper and Annabeth might have stayed like that forever if Jason hadn’t appeared and placed a hand gently on the small of Piper’s back. “We should head to baggage claim,” he said gently. “Don’t want to miss Annabeth’s things.” The fact that he could think clearly about baggage boggled her mind, but Annabeth wasn’t _his_ best friend and Piper loved him for the pure sensibility of it all the same.

The girls disentangled themselves, both sniffling and wiping at tears. It was only then Annabeth noticed Percy. She fell still. Piper stepped back, reaching immediately for Jason’s hand, as the other two stared at each other.

Piper felt a little like a voyeur watching Annabeth and Percy. Over the course of the last week she’d seen them together. She’d even seen them kiss a few times. Standing there, though, emotions running high, something about them was different. 

They seemed equally desperate, as if spending one more second apart would be the death of them, but simultaneously both terrified of the depth of what they were feeling. Piper could almost hear them both thinking it didn’t make sense to feel as intensely as they did, yet being unable to deny the truth of it. Gravity pulled them together, not in a violent crash, but in a swift, gentle motion, until her arms were around him and her face held between his hands, forehead to forehead.

“I’m so sorry,” he said, though it was so quiet Piper read his lips rather than heard him.  
.  
Annabeth shook her head, her fingers curling into his jacket for a few seconds, and then she reached into her purse, pulled out what looked like a magnet and held it up for him. Percy stared at her, then his lips pulled into the tiniest lopsided grin and he huffed a laugh. Some of the tension they’d both been carrying in their shoulders eased as he took the magnet from her and pocketed it.

“Let’s go get your things,” Percy said, loud enough to be heard. He pressed a quick kiss to Annabeth’s forehead, wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and they turned to head toward baggage claim.

“You okay?” Jason asked Piper quietly as they followed.

She squeezed his hand and leaned against him. “I am now that she’s home.”

Piper was hopped up on caffeine, Annabeth was still a mess, and it was apparently Percy’s favorite, so on their way back to the apartment, at 1AM, they stopped and spent a small fortune on junk from Taco Bell. It just felt like the right thing to do after the day they’d had. As the four of them spread out their feast on the coffee table, all of them seated on the floor for absolutely no reason, Piper found herself feeling like this was something they’d been doing their entire lives and not for the first time after a really terrible day she wanted to promptly forget.

They ate while they listened to Annabeth tell them in detail what had happened that morning in San Francisco. To Piper’s surprise, Annabeth even filled Jason in on her history with Luke, putting all her cards on the table without fear or shame. Jason was much more reserved than Piper or Percy, but even he had a hard time keeping his disgust and anger in check. All three of them did their best to hold back their own emotions, not wanting to put themselves before the much more important things they knew Annabeth was feeling.

“I’ll have to call the billing office Monday morning and see if he’s really getting my tuition refunded,” Annabeth said in conclusion, picking absently at a burrito.

“We’ll figure it out if he does,” Piper assured her.

Annabeth sat leaning against Percy, looking about as alive as a fuzzy, preppy zombie, but somehow she managed to hold her head high, not concede defeat. “I’ll take the semester off, get a job. I can apply for scholarships, get some loans, finish up in the fall. It’s not the end of the world.”

“Oh, please,” Piper objected. “My dad would cover the semester just for the sake of pissing your dad off. This is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of their eternal feud. I’m not graduating without you.”

“That’s way too much for me to ask for, even from your dad, Piper,” Annabeth replied, shaking her head. From the stern look in her eyes and the set of her jaw, Piper knew Annabeth was settling in for a good, long fight on the subject, one she had no intention of losing. 

_Fine_ , Piper thought, _let’s fight_. After all Annabeth had done for her, Piper wasn’t about to let her best friend watch all her hard work and planning fall the wayside like this. Money was one of the few things Piper had in abundance and she wasn’t about to let it get in the way of Annabeth’s happiness and future.

“I’ll chip in half,” Jason said without hesitation, and the other three all turned their heads to look at him. He’d barely spoken since they’d gotten home, listening attentively to Annabeth’s story and saying a few words of encouragement, but little more. Piper had a sneaking suspicion he felt a little like an intruder, considering his relationship with Annabeth was still more or less just her friend’s boyfriend, but he looked and sounded resolute all the same.

“Me too,” Percy offered, earning him his own set of shocked expressions. Piper had to admit she was a little more surprised by the offer from Percy. She and Jason had parents who replaced actual parenting with copious amounts of money. Percy, she knew, worked part time delivering pizza and went to school on a swimming scholarship. “Not half, a third, I mean.”

Annabeth studied Percy’s face for a few seconds, a series of expressions flashing across her face, and Piper thought she was about to get full on mad. “No,” she finally said again. “No way. I can’t accept that, not from any of you.”

“You can accept it and say thank you or I can go down to billing on Monday morning and write them a check without you,” Piper said, doing her best to sound just as annoyingly stubborn as Annabeth did.

Out of the corner of her eye Piper saw Jason and Percy exchange a curious look, but she maintained her focus on Annabeth. This was possibly the greatest battle of their wills ever. In the past, Piper had always accepted Annabeth’s refusals when it came to anything serious, and being such a pushover had left Annabeth to deal with a painful secret for almost five whole years. Never again.

“Piper,” Annabeth said, her tone the same scolding one she used when Piper was whining about doing the dishes.

“Annabeth,” Piper replied, trying (and unfortunately failing) to match that bossy tone. It wasn’t fair that Annabeth was so much better at sounding stern.

“You won’t know until Monday,” Jason said, sensing the tension between them very near exploding and jumping in to play diplomat. “Everyone is tired. Let’s get some sleep, see what happens, decide which plan is best when we know for sure what’s happening.”

“I could use some sleep,” Percy agreed.

The girls were both too tired to be able to think of a reason to object, so they agreed to a ceasefire for the night. Piper wasn’t going to let it go, but, with their momentary truce in place, they moved to clean up the mess of their late night binge.

“I don’t think I should drive right now. Is it cool if I crash on the couch?” Percy asked, stretching wide once he was back on his feet. They were all a little stiff from having been on the floor so long.

“I have no problems with you staying,” Piper told him, and they both looked to Annabeth.

Annabeth looked between them for a few seconds. “Don’t be stupid,” she finally said, acting like it was the silliest thing in the world even though Piper knew her mind had just been working a million miles a second. “You don’t have to sleep on the couch. Jason, do you have anything he could borrow for the night?”

“Sure,” Jason replied, a little smirk on his lips. “I’ll go grab something.”

Piper kept herself busy, though she was very purposefully eavesdropping as Percy turned to Annabeth and quietly told her, “It’s okay. I don’t mind the couch.”

“Percy,” Annabeth said, and Piper couldn’t help but smile. It was the same tone Annabeth always reserved for reprimanding her, the very one she’d used a few minutes before. Piper didn’t mind someone else being on the receiving end of it for once.

Clearly Percy was smarter than Piper, because instead of objecting like she usually did, he shrugged and said, “You’re the boss.”

It wasn’t long before they were ready to turn in for the night, but before Piper was willing to put doors and walls between them, she wrapped her arms around Annabeth and held her. “I love you,” she said, her voice muffled as she buried her face in her best friend’s shoulder. “I love you. I love you. I love you. Don’t ever go away again.”

Annabeth melted into the embrace, softening against Piper. “I love you too,” she replied simply.

Letting her go was difficult, but eventually Piper managed to pull away and slip off to bed with Jason. Part of her wanted to reignite the magic of the night before, disappear from the cruelty of the latter half of their day and get lost in each other, but as soon as her head hit the pillow she was out like a light. Magic would have to wait for another time. Piper needed sleep, and lots of it.


	33. Chapter 33

Annabeth woke up in Percy’s arms the next morning.

Her groggy mind took several seconds to process the giant mass laying beside her, why she was so much hotter than usual, but a smile slowly crept across her face and before long she pulled herself close to him and nuzzled her face into his chest. With the winter morning light streaming in, the rhythmic sound of his breathing, the sweet scent of him surrounding her, even the trail of drool at the corner of his mouth, it was easy to forget the madness of the previous day. The moment seemed to exist outside of time.

The night before he’d been so hesitant about climbing into bed with her. Even after they’d said goodnight to Piper and Jason, he’d insisted a few more times that taking the couch wasn’t a problem. By the time they’d gotten themselves changed and ready to for bed (Annabeth did not express even a single ounce of disappointment when he’d come back from the bathroom still wearing his t-shirt and she was quite proud of herself for it), she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to hit the big dork or kiss him. She’d chosen to go with the kiss. He didn’t mention sleeping on the couch again after that.

Any other morning Annabeth might have worried about what time it was, how high the sun had traveled in the sky, everything she needed to get done. None of it mattered to her that Sunday morning. Instead she drifted back in and out of sleep, pressing herself against Percy and willing herself to return to dreamland every time she began to rouse until the time she finally opened her eyes and was greeted by a beautiful, familiar shade of green staring back at her.

“Morning,” Percy said gruffly, his arms firm around her waist.

“You drool when you sleep,” she told him, trying in vain to contain her smile. She should have found it gross, not adorable.

He wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand and shrugged. “Yeah, I do most nights, especially when I sleep well.”

“Better than the couch, then?” she asked.

“That was never even a contest,” Percy replied, leaning in to press a few drooly kisses on her forehead, nose, lips. Disgusting. She couldn’t get enough of it.

They both seemed to understand how dangerous kissing in bed was, and as much as she wanted to throw caution to the wind and take her fill of him, they managed to keep themselves under control. She was warm and content, completely at ease in his arms. It was strange how less than forty-eight hours before she had been anxiously considering how they’d handle the prospect of sharing a bed while attending Tristan McLean’s wedding.

Thinking about the wedding made another thought hit her like a freight train and Annabeth rolled away from him onto her back with a groan and an, “Oh, fuck.”

“I’m that bad at kissing, huh?” Percy replied, leaning over her. The cocky little grin he wore told her he was not actually concerned she thought this in the least.

She couldn’t resist the urge to tease him with, “Yes, the absolute worst.”

“I thought you felt that way,” he said gravely, making her laugh. “What’s wrong?”

“I just remembered the wedding,” Annabeth told him, reaching up to run her hands through his messy hair. Her own was probably a rat’s nest, but it had been in such a state the fateful day he’d asked her out for coffee, so she figured the weirdo liked it that way well enough.

When she didn’t elaborate, Percy nodded and asked, “Not feeling up to another trip so soon?”

“No, that’s not a problem. The trip itself will be fun,” she replied, a grin beginning to appear despite her frustration. “Piper and Jason will be there, and you, if you still want to…”

“Still want to,” Percy confirmed. “So, what’s the problem?”

Annabeth scrunched her nose, hating that she even had to think of this as an issue. It never had been before. “It’s just, I’m going to have to let Piper pay for… everything. I don’t mind so much since it’s _her_ dad’s wedding, and she probably would have insisted on it anyway, but… between that, the fact that I couldn’t even get myself home last night, and the tuition thing… And knowing her, she’s going to keep insisting on picking up the tab all the time. I just hate the idea of being so… dependent.”

Percy considered that, a crease forming between his brows, and he leaned down to press a kiss against her shoulder. “Piper wants to help because she cares about you. I don’t think she’d see it as you being dependent on her, I think she’d see it as helping you out through a tough time. If it were just emotional support, or help with some kind of task you needed, would you hesitate to accept it?”

“Probably not,” Annabeth conceded, though sometimes she really would even object in those circumstances. She could admit she had trouble accepting help, but she’d become better at it as she got older, especially when the help was coming from Piper.

“So, if picking up the tab isn’t putting any special strain on her, what’s the difference?” he asked. Annabeth couldn’t help but notice the glint of victory in his eye, knowing full well he’d cornered her with his logic.

She managed to grumble out, “I guess there’s not really a difference, but it feels like there is one.”

“Will you accept the help with tuition, then?” he continued, the concern etched into his features deepening.

“Tuition _is_ different,” Annabeth insisted, immediately uncomfortable with where the conversation was heading. “I could maybe accept help from Piper and her dad, on the condition they’d let me pay them back once I graduate, but definitely not from you or Jason. I have no idea what the two of you were thinking last night.”

When Percy had made the offer of helping with her tuition the night before she’d almost gotten angry with him. They hadn’t exactly discussed the state of their finances over lunch dates that week, but she knew Percy came from a comfortably middle class family, worked part time to pay his expenses and covered tuition with scholarships and financial aid. He worked hard. He didn’t have a spare ten grand laying around to help his not-even-really-girlfriend of a single week with her tuition problems. And, even if he did, she couldn’t, in clear conscience, take that kind of money from him after such a short time anymore than she could accept it from Jason.

“I can’t speak for Jason,” Percy started, “but I don’t like the idea of you having to give up school because you finally gave those assholes their comeuppance. If pitching in means you’ll be more willing to accept the help, I’m pitching in.”

His casual use of the word _comeuppance_ was a little distracting, but she forced herself to stay focused. She took his face in her hands, feeling the slight scruff that had come in overnight scratch against her fingertips. “Where exactly were you planning on getting that kind of money? Emptying out a savings account? Selling Bessie? Taking out a loan?”

“None of the above,” he told her, wearing a sheepish grin. She was glad his pride didn’t seem hurt by the question, at least.

“Then where?” she insisted, beginning to feel a little worried about what else the answer might be.

With a sigh, he pulled away, sat up, and ruffled his hair with a hand. Annabeth followed him, partly out of concern, but also just because she missed his presence against her the second he was gone. Trying to be patient, she wrapped her arms around his waist from behind and pressed her face into his back. He leaned into her and she held him just a little tighter in return. The closeness, the intimacy, was frighteningly addictive, and he seemed to welcome it just as much as she craved it. 

“I’ve been sitting on this endorsement deal from a regional sporting goods chain for a while now,” he finally answered. “It’s a good deal. I do a couple commercial spots for them, they give me a big fat check. I won’t have to work nights or weekends anymore and can focus on school and training.”

That certainly wasn’t the kind of answer she was expecting, so she was left momentarily speechless. “Why haven’t you taken it?” she finally asked, trying to keep any judgment or accusation out of her voice.

“Part of the deal is that I swim in the Olympic qualifiers this summer,” he explained, which didn’t seem like much of an explanation to her. It sounded easy, like something he would already be doing.

“What’s the problem with that?” she asked. “Aren’t you a favorite for the Olympic team?”

Percy huffed a laugh. “Assuming I swim this summer, I guess, yeah, but I… well, I wasn’t sure I wanted to.”

One of the first things Annabeth had learned about Percy was that he belonged in the water. He swam like he was born to do it – not like he was an athlete, like he was an artist and the pool was his canvas. It seemed impossible he wouldn’t want to compete when he was so clearly made for it.

“Why wouldn’t you want to?” she asked quietly. Annabeth didn’t want to be pushy, but she was worried. Admittedly, it was also something she was simply curious about and Annabeth had never been able to resist asking questions when she was curious. Mostly it was the worried bit, though.

They sat while he worked through whatever thoughts were raging in his head. Annabeth didn’t mind waiting for him to find the right words. She was comfortable sitting there in bed with him, for one, but she also would have waited forever if she had to, if waiting forever meant being able to know him a little better. In some ways she felt like she understood him perfectly already, but in just as many he remained a complete mystery to her. Annabeth wanted to unlock every single one of his secrets, pick his strange and wonderful mind apart until she knew everything there was to know about him.

Finally, he took a deep breath and gave her an answer, “Last summer was amazing. It felt good to get out and compete at that level, and it felt great to actually do well. I have to admit, I love winning, and everyone was so proud of me, you know? At first the media attention was a little annoying, but then… some journalists started snooping around. It felt so invasive, having them dig into my life and my family. Then, and I don’t know how, but one of them found out about Bianca. The di Angelos managed to squash the story before it went anywhere, but if… _when_ I swim again, if I make the Olympic team, it’s only a matter of time before all that starts up again.”

Of course, Annabeth thought. Even her dad had heard rumors about Percy after a simple week of asking around. People who made snooping their livelihood would probably be able to dig things up with little to no effort. She pressed her lips against the back of his neck and held him tighter still. “Well, then that’s not an option,” she said with finality.

Percy turned, pulling her into his lap. “Too late,” he said lightly, smiling shamelessly.

Annabeth stared at him. “What?”

“I called last night, said I’d do it,” he told her, acting as if it were the easiest thing in the world.

“Percy,” she said, and the admonishment in her voice wasn’t the usual teasing tone she used. “If you want to do it for yourself, that’s one thing, and I would support you every step of the way. You can’t do that for me, though. Absolutely not. And when did you even have time?”

“While we were waiting around for your to flight to get in,” he answered, but didn’t respond to any of her other points, which was irritating because they were significantly more important.

She shook her head. “I hadn’t even… I didn’t bring up the tuition issue until I was home.”

“It wasn’t about your tuition,” he mumbled, ducking his head and hiding his face in the crook of her neck. His voice was muffled as he, thankfully, continued without her having to pry the information out of him, “You were in such a desperate situation yesterday and I couldn’t do anything. I never want to be in a position where you need help and I can’t give it to you.”

Staying mad at him was nearly impossible, even when his logic was so impossibly stupid. Her shoulders slumped, all the fight going out of her. She thought about pointing out they’d only known each other for three weeks, that they’d only had their first date a week before, that they weren’t even officially a couple, but those things mattered less and less to her with every passing day. 

It didn’t matter that she’d only known him three weeks, because she’d changed more in those three weeks alone than in half a decade. It didn’t matter that their first date had only been a week ago, because she had shared more of herself in that one night than she ever had with anyone but Piper. It didn’t mater that they weren’t even officially a couple, because they both knew, deep down, what this was between them, that it was something real and lasting. Worrying about labels seemed insufficient, juvenile even.

Annabeth took his face in her hands again and kissed him. She kissed him long and slow, letting herself melt into the comfort of his embrace and the feel of his lips. When she finally pulled away, she pressed her forehead to his and said, “You’re an idiot.”

“Your idiot, now,” he replied with a smile, and she was mad about how easily those words made her smile in return.

“Are you sure it’s not too late to back out of the deal?” she asked, her voice quiet and dripping with concern. “You don’t need to worry about having money to bail me out, Percy, and I don’t want you putting yourself in a bad position just for me. You’re not the only one of us that can worry.”

Percy pulled back to look at her. “Us,” he repeated.

“Yes, us,” she confirmed. “You and me. Us.”

“That word sounds weird when you say it too many times,” he observed, and she wanted to scream at him for, once again, completely dodging her question. Percy Jackson was a huge, infuriating, insufferable idiot and she was wholly at his mercy.

“Can you get out of the deal?” she asked again, this time more insistently.

“Technically, probably,” he answered, his face scrunching up in distaste at the thought. “I haven’t signed any papers or anything. It won’t look good if I do, though, and I won’t get an opportunity like this again after…”

He didn’t have to finish the thought, she knew what he was thinking. This was the moment of truth. If he backed out now, he was done. Other sponsors wouldn’t be eager to work with someone who flip-flopped. No Olympic Team, probably no more competitive swimming at all, at least not with any chance of financial return. He’d made the call because of her, but Annabeth wondered, based on how easily he’d made the decision, if a part of him had been waiting for an excuse all along. If he needed her to be his excuse, Annabeth could tolerate it.

“What happened with Bianca?” she asked, continuing to cradle his face in her hands.

Pain filled his beautiful eyes and Annabeth regretted asking the question instantly. Percy shook his head a couple times, closed his eyes and tilted his face into her touch. “I can’t tell you,” he said softly. “I can’t tell you that story, Annabeth.”

She brushed her thumbs along his stubble, her heart aching at the anguished sight of him. “I won’t think any less of you,” she told him, trying to pour the truth of the words into her voice. Annabeth knew who Percy was, the details of his story wouldn’t change that, but she’d learned the hard way over the last week that sometimes _telling_ the story was half the battle.

“I know you wouldn’t,” he assured her, turning to brush his lips against the palm of her hand. “That’s not why I can’t tell you. I just can’t.” 

She was about to try one more time to convince him when his eyes opened and he caught her gaze, holding it, imploring her. “Please trust me,” he said softly. “There’s a reason I can’t tell you. There’s a reason I don’t want to.”

“Okay,” she agreed, giving him a small, reassuring smile. “I won’t ask again, but if, and when, you decide you want to, whenever that is, I’m here.”

It was his turn to kiss her. This time they didn’t pull back after a few languid seconds. They wrapped themselves up in each other and surrendered to the pure desire that lingered under the surface whenever they were together, treading carefully toward the unspoken limit they had established for their physical relationship. Annabeth wasn’t ready to push past it just yet, but she raced toward it all the same, letting heat build between them, his lips pliant and responsive, his body warm and solid, their hands reaching for any exposed skin, but never seeking any more out.

They were just finding their rhythm when a feminine moan echoed through the walls from across the hall and both Percy and Annabeth froze.

“That’s very loud,” Percy said as he pulled back to look at Annabeth.

Laughter was the only response her brain could conjure, because the initial sound was followed closely by several more, both Piper’s high, sweet tone and one much deeper. It wasn’t the first time Annabeth had overheard Piper in the heat of the moment with an overnight visitor, but she’d always been alone, able to just pop in some headphones and drown it out, not in the middle of her own make out session. It was also her first time hearing _Jason_ and somehow that made it more terrible. Jason had become someone she considered a friend in his own right.

“Oh God,” she mumbled through her laughter, wrapping her arms around Percy and burying her face against him to hide from the sheer embarrassment.

“Yeah,” Percy agreed, “sounds like they’re about to start making some calls to that guy, too.”

“Please shut up,” Annabeth said, only laughing harder.

Percy pulled her down onto the bed and she could feel his body shake with silent laughter of his own. “I’m kind of impressed, honestly,” he continued, every word only serving to make Annabeth dissolve further into her laughter. “I wouldn’t have thought Jason had it in him.”

“I’m going to tape your mouth shut,” she threatened, pushing up on one arm and using the other hand to playfully tap his mouth to get him to _stop_.

“If that’s what you’re into,” he replied, and for all of two seconds he looked absolutely delighted with himself, then Annabeth yelled his name and he scurried out from under her, understanding he was now in severe mortal danger.


	34. Chapter 34

“Are you sure about this?” Annabeth asked, looking to Piper. They’d been sitting in the NYU billing office for twenty minutes waiting to be seen, and Annabeth had asked the same question at least five times since arriving (and several more before).

Piper, as she had done every time before, held up the check her father had overnighted and waved it. Tristan McLean had come through. “He told me this was better than getting him a wedding present. He wants me to get a receipt so he can frame it and send it to your dad.”

“He did not say that,” Annabeth replied, though she was doing a poor job of hiding her smile.

Every time Annabeth doubted herself, Piper purposefully made up a more ridiculous response. In reality, when Piper had called her dad Monday afternoon, he’d listened to the general details of the situation and said, “That’s fine. As long as it’ll piss Freddy off.” Since Fredrick Chase was trying to punish Annabeth by showing her she needed him to survive, Piper was pretty sure paying for Annabeth’s tuition would piss him off.

They had also gotten Annabeth connected to their phone plan, because not having a phone was stupid and dangerous. Annabeth insisted she’d take over the cost of it as soon as she had a job, but Piper wasn’t going to press her on that and she doubted her dad was going to miss the extra forty or so dollars a month it was costing him. Those two things and the expenses for the trip to Malibu were all Annabeth said she would accept. Piper, however, had other intentions. Whenever possible, she was going to foot the bill. Those smaller fights could wait for when they came up, though.

It was still hard for Piper to believe Annabeth had agreed to let her ask her dad for this help at all, without even needing any additional convincing, when they’d convened to negotiate again on Sunday afternoon. That miracle had been arranged by the amazing Percy Jackson, who would soon be receiving a very large muffin basket in thanks, maybe even a lifetime supply of them. Piper would have to look into some kind of muffin of the month club. Jason had said Percy was a wizard with Annabeth, and Piper had to agree.

From all the hell they’d gone through on Saturday, Piper had taken one thing away – she liked that guy, which was good, considering Annabeth was now, officially, using the word ‘boyfriend’ to refer to him. Even more surprising than her own decision about liking Percy was that Jason had warmed up to him as well. When she’d woken up Sunday morning she’d found them seated together in the kitchen, eating cereal, chatting about basketball as Annabeth watched in silent awe. Piper hadn’t dared question it, even alone with Jason later. If they were getting along, all on their own, that was good news.

“Does your dad know we’re doing this yet?” Piper asked, taking a sidelong glance at Annabeth.

Annabeth shrugged, suddenly very interested in the zipper on her book bag. “I haven’t heard anything from him. I’m hoping the twins will figure out a way to message, but it’ll probably be a while before they take the chance. Whatever is happening over there is a mystery to me and I don’t mind that too much.”

“I still think we should kidnap the twins. You know, raise them as our own in a warm and loving environment,” Piper said, crossing her legs. She was beginning to get irritated it was taking so long to be seen. Only in a university billing office could someone be left waiting while holding a check for over twenty-five grand.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. “They’re sixteen, Piper, we’d hardly be raising them. And we’ve talked about this – we’re not doing anything that could land you in prison. Kidnapping is a felony offense, therefore, no kidnapping.”

“Do kidnappers get conjugal visits?” Piper asked in a low voice, wiggling her eyebrows.

“I’m no longer taking your money. I’m going to leave and live on the streets,” Annabeth deadpanned.

The response had Piper laughing openly, not caring about being loud in the painfully quiet office. Just as she had known would happen, Annabeth had allowed her to go into gratuitous detail about her dreamlike night with Jason. There had only been a few wrinkled noses and comments of, “Gross, Piper!” For the most part they had laughed and Annabeth had seemed genuinely happy that Piper had gotten the enchanting evening she’d so badly wanted.

“How was class yesterday, by the way?” Piper asked, leaned in and whispering so the receptionist couldn’t overhear. “Any different now that you’ve slept with teacher?”

“Oh my god,” Annabeth practically hissed, giving Piper a smack on the arm. “We _just_ slept, and you shouldn’t be blabbing so openly about that around… here.”

That reaction was exactly what Piper had been hoping for, but she did feel a little bad for the setting in which she’d brought it up. A misunderstanding could happen pretty easily. “Well, still. How was it?”

With a roll of her eyes and a huff Annabeth indulged her by answering, “It was fun, honestly, even a little thrilling. I don’t think we really acted any different, though.”

“Does he wear one of those really tight professional suits? The kind that show _everything_ ,” Piper asked, her brows wiggling again.

To Piper’s surprise, Annabeth flushed a light shade of pink. “Yes,” she confirmed, “but I’m not saying anything else about it.”

When they were finally called back, Piper was wearing a very self congratulatory grin. Considering how much she had been dreading this week not long ago, it was going pretty damn well so far. Despite how difficult the weekend had been, she thought Annabeth was pretty satisfied with how things had turned out as well. There was no denying the other woman was more confident now, felt more like the Annabeth Piper remembered from middle and high school – not exactly outgoing or loud, but sure of herself and bold, confident.

“Please let me take you shopping,” Piper pleaded once they finally escaped that stuffy office, Annabeth’s tuition payed. They had both finished up their classes for the day and had a good amount of daylight left. The weather was unseasonably warm, sun shining, and Piper didn’t want to go straight back to their apartment. Malibu was just a day away, the wedding two, and she knew she should be using the time to get ahead on her school work, but she hated the idea of sitting still.

“Piper,” Annabeth said with a pointed look, “it’s bad enough that I have to lean on you for tuition right now, on top of basically being a freeloader for the trip this week, and then there are all the other things you’re inevitably going to pay for in the coming months. I’m not sure my ego can take a shopping trip, too.”

Piper pouted, hanging onto Annabeth’s arm as they walked through campus. “Yeah, but this is for me, and technically an extension of the trip. And you know I’m going to end up buying you something whether you go with me or not. If you’re there to try things on for me, I’ll probably buy less.”

“I should get Percy a tie,” Annabeth conceded, giving Piper a begrudging smile. “Although I guess _you’d_ be getting Percy a tie.”

“Does he not have one or are you trying to match?” Piper asked. Matching couple looks didn’t exactly sound like Annabeth, but this was new territory and Piper was sure she’d need to prepare herself for the unexpected.

The heavy sigh Annabeth exhaled answered the question, but she still put it to words, “Not a single one. I’m honestly surprised he had the suit, but apparently that was a gift from his mom when he graduated high school. He conveniently ‘lost’ the tie she gave him with it while moving last year. And had no others.”

“You find this attractive, don’t you?” Piper observed, her lips quirking into a smile.

“Unfortunately, but please don’t ask me to explain. I don’t understand it, either,” Annabeth said, looking positively distraught by the truth of it.

Piper pulled her phone out as they approached the street, ordering them an Uber since they weren’t heading straight home and she hated taking the bus anywhere else. Soon they were on their way. Sitting in the car was almost too much, Piper fidgeting around in the backseat, unable to stay still. Traffic wasn’t even especially bad, but after just a couple minutes cooped up Piper had half a mind to jump out and walk.

When Annabeth placed a hand on her knee, Piper almost shot right through the roof. “Nervous about tomorrow?” Annabeth asked gently.

“What?” Piper asked. “No, of course not.”

The lie very clearly did not fool Annabeth. “It’s okay to be nervous.”

“Being nervous is stupid,” Piper replied, shaking her head, intent on denying it. “It’s not like _I’m_ the one getting married.”

Everything about the wedding was ridiculous, just like everything her dad ever did. For as long as she could remember Tristan McLean had lived over the top, running away from any semblance of normalcy – like being a father. The idea of him getting married, settling down, having a family (one that probably would only barely include her, if at all) was maddening. All her life she’d just wanted a dad, someone who could spare more than a few minutes at a time to talk to her, someone who would come to Parents’ Days at schools, take her out for her birthdays, and attend graduations. Even when she’d called to ask about Annabeth’s tuition, which Piper could admit was no small sum of money, she’d gotten her answer and hung up in under five minutes.

“You may like her, you know,” Annabeth said gently.

That surprised Piper, especially considering Annabeth’s relationship with her own step-mother. “What makes you think that?”

Annabeth shrugged, turning to look out the window. “Something has to go right for one of us eventually. Why not this?”

Piper wished she could share her friend’s optimism. There was only one way Piper could see this ending: her dad and his new wife, living happily ever after with their own perfect little glamorous family, and Piper living on the other side of the country, out of sight and out of mind. That was more or less how Piper lived already in relation to her father, but somehow him finding happiness without her made it worse, made her feel bad about it instead of neutral.

“I can’t stand country music,” Piper replied. “Dad always hated it, too.”

“You know I’m not a fan either,” Annabeth agreed, “but… Piper, I’m dating a guy who doesn’t own a tie. You’re dating one who’s more likely to be in a library on Saturday night than at a party. Both of us have been happier the last few weeks than in years. Maybe your dad can’t stand country music, but maybe it doesn’t matter if she makes him happy. And maybe you’ll find out she makes him want to be a better version of himself.”

“Or she’ll be insufferable and have a terrible accent,” Piper mumbled, sinking into her seat.

“Her accent isn’t that bad,” Annabeth assured her, though she looked a little like she wanted to laugh.

Piper hadn’t been in the mood for looking into her soon to be step-mother any further than the little she’d seen in those initial articles announcing their marriage. There were plenty of videos of her online, not even just her music. She’d won music awards and was apparently pretty well liked within the industry, which was definitely saying something. Someone in the entertainment industry being _openly liked_ was usually a good sign about what kind of person they were.

“We’ll have fun, either way,” Annabeth finally said, giving Piper’s knee a little squeeze. “Even if the wedding itself sucks, we’ll have the whole weekend in Malibu.”

“It’ll be too cold for the beach,” Piper complained, her mood not allowing her to entertain any possibility of fun. “Stupid February wedding. Couldn’t even have it in the summer so we could properly enjoy it.”

“Warmer than here!” Annabeth said with a laugh.

Piper huffed, mostly because she knew Annabeth was right. One way or another, they were going to have a great extended weekend. For the first time ever, they were both in relationships. This was going to be Piper’s first trip with Jason. Even if it were too cold to properly enjoy the beach, there would still be plenty of things to entertain them. She was being difficult, refusing to let herself focus on anything but what annoyed her about her dad and his whirlwind marriage.

“My dad wants us to stay at the house, by the way,” Piper remembered, a little detail from the conversation she’d had with Tristan when she’d called Monday but instantly forgotten in favor of more important things.

“I figured he would. To be fair, staying at your house isn’t much different than staying at a hotel,” Annabeth commented, which made Piper smile. It was true. The McLean mansion was fairly moderate by Hollywood standards, but ridiculous by any other standards – except maybe in comparison to the Grace family _tower_. 

“She has a son, you know. He’s about our age, I think,” Piper said, not sure why she was suddenly remembering all these relatively insignificant details. Her mind couldn’t stay still either, unable to focus, bouncing between every random thought that passed through her head.

Annabeth pursed her lips. “That might fun, someone you could relate to? And if she has a son our age, then…” The thought went unfinished, but Piper knew where it was going. A step-brother the same age as her could mean she wouldn’t just be written off and forgotten, even if she did end up with a very young half-sibling or two.

“Do you have to see the bright side in everything?” Piper asked playfully, smiling despite her own determination to only see the worst possible out outcomes. Usually it was Piper who made the best of situations and Annabeth who was too grumpy to admit something wouldn’t be completely terrible. Their positions being flipped was a little unsettling.

Annabeth smiled back, looping her arm with Piper’s and cuddling up to her. The car had finally found itself stuck in city traffic. They were going to be there for a while. “Only in everything that has to do with you, because you deserve a whole life of bright sides and nothing less.”

“Shut up, Chase.”

“Love you too, McLean.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was asked in a comment on the last chapter about social media! i'm a little shy and a lot generally introverted, but i do want to potentially be able to engage more with you cutie pies. ;; so if you're at all interested, you can drop me messages on [curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/waddled)! whether questions about this story, maybe even scene ideas you'd be interested in seeing over on conversations, or anything else. ♥
> 
> anyway, thank you all for reading and ik this was a slow chapter, but there's more to come soon. 👀


	35. Chapter 35

Annabeth was kind of beginning to hate airports, but only kind of.

They arrived at JFK with plenty of time to spare, no thanks to Piper or Percy, but things went wrong almost immediately from there, mostly thanks to Piper and Percy. The two of them were a pair so chaotic Annabeth could not have anticipated it, feeding off each other’s ridiculousness at every turn. They were loud and easily distracted and insisted on stopping everywhere to look at everything. She would have loved it (and still did a little) were it not for the schedule they had to keep. Thankfully Jason remained as levelheaded as ever. 

When Piper lost her carry on halfway to their gate, Jason managed to find it in a few short minutes. No one had noticed it unattended and assumed it was a bomb, which Annabeth considered nothing short of a miracle. After, either Jason or Annabeth always double checked that everyone had their bags whenever they left a bathroom or shop.

Percy’s phone was harder to find, though, and they hadn’t thought to check for phones at every junction. Even when they called it, no one answered, so the four of them had to retrace about twenty minutes worth of steps before finally discovering it. He’d left it in a bathroom. Annabeth disinfected it thoroughly, and then did the same to Percy’s hands. She was beginning to feel like a middle aged soccer mom.

The three of them really would have been lost were it not for Jason when the dangerous duo distracted Annabeth with a claw machine. Between her own competitive addiction to them and Piper and Percy’s egging her on, they very well might not have stopped until Annabeth had cleared the machine out – and she _would_ have cleared it out. Instead they had to be satisfied with just three of the machine’s prizes (won after only four plays, because, yes, Annabeth was that good). Percy took the first prize, a panda pillow pet. Piper took the second, a unicorn with pastel rainbow mane and tail. The third prize, a giant stuffed slice of pepperoni pizza with giant eyes, they unanimously forced on Jason as a reward for his heroic work of dragging them away from the machine.

She thought they were in the clear when they finally arrived at their gate with a half hour to spare, but it was conveniently located right across from a bar, and before Annabeth or Jason knew what was happening, their significant others were doing shots. At least the two of them could stay at the gate listening for updates while still keeping the troublemakers in sight.

“I think they’re going to be the death of us,” Jason said. He had already forgiven and forgotten Annabeth’s moment of weakness with the claw machine.

“Oh, I accepted Piper McLean would be the death of me a long time ago,” Annabeth replied, laughing as she watched Piper and Percy clink their shot glasses together before downing another round. At least she could rest assured they’d sleep on the flight, once all that alcohol really got into their systems. She had half a mind to go join them.

Once they were on the plane, Annabeth started to understand exactly why Percy had been so eager to do as many shots as humanly possible in half an hour. Before even taking off he was antsy and nervous, his fingers tapping on the armrest or his knees, his feet tapping a relentless rhythm along with them. He tried to order another drink when the flight attendant came around, but Annabeth gave him a very disapproving look and he retracted the request to ask for Coke instead. Jason managed to keep Piper from ordering another drink, too.

“I take it you don’t like to fly?” Annabeth asked, finally reaching out to take one of his restless hands.

“Hate it,” Percy confirmed. “Planes don’t make any sense.”

Several thoughts went through Annabeth’s mind, most notably that he hated flying and had still agreed to spend twelve hours round trip on planes just for her, not once, but twice now, including his offer to go with her to San Francisco. She didn’t speak that thought to words, though, instead going with, “There’s perfectly sound physics to explain how planes work, Percy.”

He looked at her, and she expected him to say something dismissive about it, but instead replied, words slightly slurred from inebriation, with, “Kinda. Scientists know the equations work, and have some abstract understanding that air speed and pressure differences and shit are involved, but they can’t explain _why_ the equations work. Makes no fucking sense. People weren’t meant to fly. Unnatural.”

Annabeth stared at him, inundated with obscene thoughts in the wake of him making such an intellectual argument while quickly deteriorating into an anxious, drunken stupor. Percy was a walking, wild mess, but under that disorganized exterior he was both emotionally intelligent and erudite. God, he was sexy.

“Why do you have that look on your face?” Piper asked Annabeth very loudly, suddenly turned around in her seat, on her knees to look over the headrest. The plane was still boarding so she didn’t yet need to be settled in her seat, but Jason was already trying to coax her back down, struggling to keep a straight face. Piper’s speech was a little less slurred than Percy’s, but not by much. Annabeth had a feeling her best friend was pleased to have met someone who could take her on, shot for shot, drink for drink.

“What look?” Annabeth responded, playing dumb even though she was well aware Piper had just caught her in the middle of uncouth imaginings and heat was now flushing her face.

Piper narrowed her eyes. “I don’t know. That’s not a look I’ve seen before.”

“I know it,” Percy said, pointing at Annabeth with his free hand and beginning to laugh.

“You’re both drunk,” Annabeth replied, refusing to acknowledge either of them.

Jason, wonderful angel Jason Grace, was there to assist, wrapping an arm around Piper’s waist and pulling her down into her seat. “Annabeth’s right, you’re drunk,” he told her, gently reaching around to secure her belt and effectively trap her. They continued to mumble at each other, probably as Piper objected, but it was too quiet for Annabeth to hear.

Percy was not so easily escaped, though. He leaned over, his lips brushing against her ear, and whispered, “You get that look on your face in class, you know. Drives me nuts.” His breath smelled of Fireball and the impulsive corner of her mind wanted to turn her head and get a good, deep taste of it on his mouth.

Instead she pulled back and slapped his arm, her blush deepening, “I do not!”

“From day one, looking at me like a piece of meat you couldn’t wait to sink your teeth into,” he gloated, clearly pleased with her objectification of him, and settled more comfortably in his seat. The alcohol was doing its job, beginning to ease his jitters and relax him. Percy lifted a finger to his lips as if shushing her. “Don’t worry, it’s our secret.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she lied. 

It was true, but she refused to let him know just how true it was. His form had filled her thoughts since the moment he’d first walked out of the coach’s office, shirtless, sculpted and smug. With every passing day, and every new thing she learned about him, that pure desire came a little closer to overwhelming her lingering fear of physical intimacy.

He mumbled a, “Whatever you say,” as his eyes fluttered closed, wearing a grin that set her stomach doing nervous flips that had nothing to do with the flight. 

How aware he was of his effect on her was unfair, especially considering she had growing doubts the feeling was mutual. Her feeling that was unfair to _him_ she reminded herself. The reason he held back wasn’t because he didn’t want her, it was because he knew she still wasn’t comfortable with anything beyond kissing, and he’d made his attraction clear often enough. He didn’t push her. He put no pressure on her. This was a good thing. But a stupid little insecure part of her brain always nagged at her, asking if he would really be able to hold back if he found her as intoxicating as she found him.

By the time they started to taxi for takeoff, Percy was sound asleep. Piper was close behind him, her head on Jason’s shoulder and her new unicorn held tight in her arms. Annabeth was glad to be with the three of them, able to enjoy the madness of their trip through the airport now that they were on their way. On her own trip the weekend before she had felt anxious, even just on the plane. This time she was at ease, completely at home even as New York faded behind them at hundreds of miles an hour.

Home for Annabeth had long stopped being a place. Piper was home, and Percy and Jason were quickly becoming extensions of it as well.

When the attendant came around to take dinner orders a couple hours into the flight, Annabeth tried to rouse Percy to ask him what he wanted. He mumbled something along the lines of, “Whatever you,” so she assumed that meant he didn’t really care and went ahead and ordered two of the steak dinners. Jason had it easier, not even having to wake Piper – the flight was only serving one vegetarian option. An hour later both troublemakers were awake and poking at their meals, nauseous and disoriented from their drinking.

“Do you have Tylenol?” Piper whined, peeking through the small gap between her seat and Jason’s. Her lips were curled into a pout, like she was the most pitiable thing in the world and hadn’t put herself in the situation to be feeling gross.

“Tylenol,” Percy agreed gruffly. “That’s a great idea.”

Even though Annabeth rolled her eyes at them, she did, indeed, have Tylenol, and she dug it out for them without another word. Seriously, she was a middle aged soccer mom.

They settled back in for the second half of their flight easily. Percy continued to drift in and out of sleep, this time nuzzled up against her shoulder. She had a feeling there would be a drool spot on her sleeve when he woke up, but she didn’t have the heart to push him and his adorable-gross drool away. While he slept, she read, glad to find she could use the quiet time to get ahead on her school work before she got too distracted in Malibu, unlike her flights a few days prior.

She hadn’t realized Percy had woken up until he asked, “Are you sure you’re okay sharing a room at Piper’s?”

The question took her aback as much as him being awake did, but she didn’t even have to think before answering, “Of course I am.”

“Just, you know, it’s okay if you’re not,” he said softly, brushing his nose against her shoulder and taking a deep breath. “You smell nice.”

Annabeth closed her book and secured it in the pouch in front of her seat, then took one of Percy’s hands and laced their fingers together. “Stop worrying so much,” she told him. “I promise I’ll tell you if I’m uncomfortable.”

He lifted his head and smiled drowsily at her. “I don’t want to screw this up.”

“Go back to sleep,” she said, though she was smiling and leaned in to give him a ginger kiss on the lips. “We still have a while before we land.”

“I hate landing even more than taking off,” he groaned, dropping his head back to her shoulder.

She rested her head atop his, letting her eyes flutter closed. A nap sounded like a good idea before they got in and had to navigate another major airport. It was getting late in New York, but they’d still be a few hours off being able to get some sleep once they arrived in LA, at least.

“Annabeth?” Percy spoke up again, a couple minutes later, right as she was beginning to teeter on the edge of sleep. She hummed in response to her name and he continued, “I keep asking because I’m scared.”

This drew her back to reality, frowning. “Scared of what?”

“Of how badly I want you,” he confessed. “I can’t help thinking I’ll convince myself something is alright when it’s not, just because I want it to be true.”

Her frown turned straight into a smile, her heart doing a little surprised flutter. It was the first time she wondered if he was a mind reader, but it wouldn’t be the last. She wasn’t too bothered with the idea of him knowing exactly what she was thinking, though. “You don’t have to be scared,” she assured him. “I trust you. And… waking up next to you…”

“What?” he asked, when her voice trailed off and she didn’t pick back up.

Finding the words to describe it would be difficult under any circumstances, but in the middle of a plane, whispering, with her mind slow from the temptation of sleep, it was near impossible. “He never did that,” she finally spoke, the words thick in her throat. The last thing she wanted was Percy thinking she was constantly comparing him to Luke, but in this she couldn’t help herself. “He never slept next to me, never just held me. After… he would always run off, leave. Sleeping next to you on Sunday, the idea of doing it again, actually means a lot to me.”

Percy was silent for a few minutes and Annabeth began to worry she might have made him upset. She was wrong, though. “I can’t imagine not wanting to hold you,” he replied with a snort, nuzzling once again against her shoulder. “It’s almost all I think about. Almost.”

“And what is it you think about when you’re not thinking about holding me?” she asked, teasing lightly despite the way her heart began to race.

“That’s for me to know and you to find out,” he said, and though he matched her teasing tone and he sounded just as close to falling asleep as she felt, there was a heavy promise behind the words. “When you’re ready.”

Annabeth wondered if he knew just how close to ready she was.


	36. Chapter 36

“Let’s stop for something to eat,” Piper suggested from the backseat of their rental car. For how long they were spending in Malibu it didn’t make sense just to depend on Ubers and taxis, so they’d opted for a rental. Annabeth was behind the wheel, cool and confident even though Piper knew she must have been exhausted from the late hour and the strain of their journey.

Annabeth’s eyes flickered in the rear view mirror. “Let’s get to your place first. If we’re still hungry after we get settled, we can go back out.”

Being hungry wasn’t the point, and Piper was sure Annabeth knew it, but she couldn’t admit as much out loud. Instead Piper had to settle for crossing her arms and letting out a little huff. She could see Annabeth smile in the rear view mirror, knowing she’d won. Jason offered her his hand, giving her his best supportive grin.

Despite the encouragement Annabeth had given her about the prospect of meeting her soon to be step-mother, Piper was still dreading it. She wasn’t sure which would be worse – hating the woman or actually liking her. As streetlamps flashed past out the window, the moment of truth came closer and Piper’s dread deepened. She tried to focus on the little things she was actually looking forward to, like showing Jason her childhood bedroom (and having her way with him several times within it) or the plans she’d made with Annabeth to dig up the time capsule they buried the summer after seventh grade. The more she tried to force herself to think of those things, the more focused her mind became on the negatives.

Much sooner than she would have liked, they were pulling into the long drive that led to Tristan McLean’s massive Malibu mansion.

“Holy shit, Piper, you grew up here?” Percy asked as the car came to a stop in the rounded driveway. She couldn’t blame him for the reaction. It was an outrageous modern monstrosity of high walls and wide windows on a sprawling estate surrounded by woods and beach. Piper knew Percy had grown up in New York City. There was plenty of opulence within the city, and impressive estates not far outside of it, but the vastness of her childhood home was something impossible within the packed urban limits of NYC, and rare even elsewhere.

“Kind of,” Piper replied, letting out a sigh. “We didn’t move in here until I was eleven, and I spent most of my time away at school after that. I really only spent summers and breaks here.”

As they all climbed out of the car, Piper noticed Annabeth gazing at the house with a hint of longing and nostalgia in her eyes. It struck Piper in that moment that this place, though having never meant much to her, had served as a safe haven for Annabeth, and not just in the terrible summer before their senior year of high school. Many times over the years Annabeth had run there when she was feeling especially alone at her own home. Now Tristan McLean had come to Annabeth’s rescue yet again, covering Annabeth’s tuition. Piper couldn’t stay angry at this place, or her dad, when she thought about things that way.

The four of them lugged their suitcases out of the trunk and into the house’s enormous, marble floored entryway, where Piper called out, “Dad? We’re here!”

Jason, Piper noticed, was suddenly busy trying to straighten out the wrinkles in his shirt, standing a little taller, making sure his close cropped hair wasn’t sticking out in any strange directions – as if that _ever_ happened. He didn’t even get bedhead. “Calm down, you look perfect,” she assured him in a whisper, unable to keep the smile off her lips. He flashed her a look that said, _easy for you to say_ , and then Tristan McLean entered from the kitchen off to the left, wiping his hands with a towel. 

“Pipes, Annabeth!” he greeted, an easy smile stretching across his features. “And you must be Percy and Jason?” he added, pointing to the boys correctly in turn, then offering them each a handshake. Piper was surprised he recognized them. She’d told him their names, of course, but not wasted what little time she got on the phone with him describing either of them.

Tristan’s hair was a little longer than he usually kept it and there was scruff growing in over his dimpled chin. That beard would be gone as soon as he started filming his next project, she was sure, but it was still strange to see him looking so casual. At least he wore the same clothes she was used to seeing him in – he was always deceptively informal in jeans and a t-shirt, but a discerning eye could see each article was high quality, designer, costing at minimum a few hundred dollars a piece, if not more.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir,” Jason told him, stoic and formal.

A laugh echoed through the entryway from just outside the kitchen. “Tristan, don’t make the poor boy call you _sir_ ,” a woman chided, her voice sweet and melodic, with a slight southern drawl.

“I wasn’t going to,” Tristan insisted, almost whining as he turned toward her and beckoned with an arm for her to join them. “Naomi, come meet the kids.”

Naomi Solace. There she was, in all her country music starlet glory, dressed in a loose green flannel shirt and jeans. Her blonde hair was pulled into a bun, with little flyaways hanging around her ears in gentle, natural waves. She was beautiful, there was no denying it, and looked younger in person than she had even in her pictures. The most startling thing was how nervous she was as she approached them, brushing her shirt down in much the same way Jason had.

“Naomi, this is Annabeth,” Tristan said, signaling with a hand as Annabeth gave a polite but reserved smile. He pointed in turn to the rest of the group as he continued, “Percy and Jason I’ve just met myself, and, of course, this is my girl, Piper.”

“It’s great to finally meet everybody. I’m so glad you could make it,” she said, a little sheepish, her eyes falling on Piper last and lingering there, shining as she seemed to take in every detail of Piper’s face.

“It’s nice to meet you, too,” Piper said, though the words were forced and awkward. She didn’t know how to feel about Naomi’s continued scrutiny.

Naomi, if she noticed, didn’t seem to care. She clapped her hands together and took a deep breath. “We finished dinner a little while ago, but you’re probably all hungry. Why don’t you go on up stairs and get settled while I whip a little something up for you. I’ll call Will down too, introduce you.”

“Oh, you don–” Piper started, but Annabeth spoke over her, “That would be lovely. Piper was just saying how hungry she is on the drive here,” and shot Piper a stern look. _Give her a chance_ , Annabeth seemed to say.

“Perfect,” Naomi smiled. “Tristan, help the kids up, point Annabeth and Percy toward their room?”

“You got it,” Tristan agreed, moving to take Piper’s bag from her.

“And, Jason,” Naomi said, “don’t let this big guy scare you. Y’all’re fine to just call us Tristan and Naomi.”

Without further ado, they ascended the stairs. Piper noticed Percy looking around in awe at his surroundings, the artwork on the walls, the gilded rails of the staircase. Tristan McLean had expensive taste. Piper had inherited some of that, she could admit, but even by her standards the house had always seemed a little over the top. It felt like he was trying to show off, fit in with the other Hollywood types he consorted with, rather than like he decorated truly for himself.

They reached the room prepared for Percy and Annabeth first – the same room Annabeth had always used when visiting over the years, it was so practically hers she’d even been the one to do most of the decorating – and the two of them disappeared inside with a few thank yous and see you in a bits. Piper didn’t really need to be guided to her own room, but her father still accompanied them with Piper’s suitcase trailing behind him. She wondered which of the other bedroom doors Naomi’s son was hidden behind, what he would be like.

“Take your time getting settled,” Tristan told them after they stood awkwardly at Piper’s door for a few seconds. He shook Jason’s hand again and poor Jason still looked terrified despite Naomi’s instruction not to be. “It’s good to have you home, Pipes,” he added, placing a hand firmly on Piper’s shoulder and giving it a squeeze.

Within the safety of her own room, Piper deflated, collapsing on her bed, covering her face with her arms and letting out a long whine. She felt the bed jostle as Jason slid in beside her, gently pulling her arms away from her face. Propped up on one arm, he smiled down at her. The way his scar stretched when he smiled always made the world seem a little less terrible.

“He seems to be trying,” Jason offered.

“I guess,” she admitted. It was late and she was tired, already feeling hungover from the drinks she’d had at the airport hours before. She wasn’t really hungry, kind of the opposite, but now that Naomi had offered and Annabeth had accepted, not going down to eat would be rude.

Jason tucked her hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering against her jaw after. “We don’t have to stay down there long. Say hello, have a few bites, and say goodnight.”

“This is the first time I’ve had a boy up here, you know,” Piper replied, very purposely changing the subject in an attempt to distract him. Her lips curled into a smile and her hands began tugging at his shirt, urging him closer.

Her pulse quickened as he leaned in, but he simply brushed his lips against hers once and then pressed them to her forehead. “You’ll have me up here several times before the weekend is over,” he said, his tone a low and teasing one that she’d found managed to give her a second wind no matter how fatigued she became. “First we need to clean up and get a little food in you.”

Piper dragged her feet getting washed up and changed, so by the time she and Jason made their way downstairs, him in a comfortable pair of sweats and her in one of his shirts, they discovered the kitchen already full of people and lively conversation.

Naomi was standing by the oven, a pot holder in her hands as she leaned against the counter. Tristan had his head in the fridge, laughing and looking like he’d momentarily forgotten what he’d opened it for. Annabeth and Percy were seated together at the counter, the space between them seeming not to exist at all with how easily they brushed arms or leaned into each other. Sitting beside them was a young blonde guy who was in the middle of telling a story.

“So I get on stage, in front of the whole school, sweating up a storm, and as soon as I open my mouth to sing, I throw up. Just everywhere. All over myself and the girl who was supposed to sing the duet with me. I tried to stop it once it started, but that just made it worse because it started shooting out my nose,” the blonde said, everyone’s attention drawn in by the animated way he spoke. His smile was just as warm and welcoming as Naomi’s, and there was no mistaking the relation between them, though he didn’t share her accent.

“We got the whole thing on video,” Naomi added, her eyes sparkling with amusement.

“You kept it?” Annabeth asked, laughing.

“Of course!” Naomi replied. “I think that’s why he’s never brought any dates home.”

“Pipes, there you are,” Tristan greeted, finally turning away from the fridge with his arm full of sodas and beers.

Annabeth turned on her stool, waving her and Jason over. “Piper, oh my god, you have to try these fried green tomatoes Naomi made, you’re going to love them.”

A ding sounded through the kitchen and Naomi jumped into action. “You’re just in time, too.” 

As Piper and Jason entered the kitchen proper and joined the group, Naomi pulled a large casserole dish from the oven and set it on the counter. In the dish cheese bubbled under a thick layer of breadcrumbs, macaroni noodles poking through the crisped top. Just the sight of the food made Piper’s mouth water of its own volition, even though just a few minutes before she’d been turning her nose up at just the thought of food. She slipped into the stool next to Annabeth.

“Piper, this is my boy, Will,” Naomi said, waving a hand in her son’s direction. “Will, this is Tristan’s daughter, Piper, and her boyfriend Jason.”

“Hey,” Will said with a grin and a nod of his head.

“Hey,” Piper replied with the same. It didn’t feel forced, at least. Piper wondered if Will was feeling as strange about all this as she was.

Annabeth pushed a plate of those fried green tomatoes at Piper. If it had been anyone else Piper may have refused to try them just to be stubborn, but if Annabeth thought she’d like them, she was guaranteed to. While Piper took a small, preliminary bite, Annabeth said, “Will’s in pre-med at Columbia. We were all probably at JFK at the same time today, but his flight left a couple hours before ours did.”

Piper barely heard a word, because all her attention was on the tomatoes and how impossibly delicious they were. “Oh my god, you weren’t kidding about these,” she found herself saying.

Percy was reaching toward the dish of steaming macaroni and cheese. Annabeth swatted his hand away without even looking away from Piper. “I told you. This is way better than anything we would have stopped for.”

“You did all of this in the last… hour?” Piper asked in disbelief. Along with the tomatoes and mac, there was a tray of vegetables and various dips set out, along with what looked to be bite sized cucumber and avocado sandwiches.

Naomi waved a hand in dismissal and began serving up plates of that piping hot mac and cheese for everyone. “I had everything but the tomatoes prepped already, in the fridge. Those didn’t take long. I figured with a full house this week, we were going to need plenty of food handy.”

This was definitely new territory for Piper. The only person she’d ever seen work in this kitchen was her dad’s part time personal chef, but Naomi moved through it now as if she’d been using it for years. Everyone was eager to eat, too, digging in as soon as she placed a plate in front of them. Percy practically inhaled his and immediately asked for a second serving. Tristan distributed the drinks he’d procured from the fridge. Piper had always found the house cold and unwelcoming, but it felt the opposite now, with the kitchen full of chatter and delicious home cooked food.

She should have been happy about it. This should have been a wonderful turn of events. Instead, the more she enjoyed the food, the more everyone laughed, the more dejected Piper became. It had been years since she’d had this much time with her father, but his attention was divided, more focused on Naomi than her. He’d barely even spoken to Jason, the first guy she’d ever brought home.

“I think I better get this one to bed,” Jason finally said after finishing off the beer Tristan had given him, sliding an arm around Piper’s waist. She’d been trying her best to be attentive and positive, but from the look in his eye she knew he could tell she was struggling. “Big day tomorrow.”

“A big day, indeed,” Tristan agreed, sharing a giddy look with Naomi, like they were a couple of lovesick teenagers and not both over forty. It should have been cute, but Piper just wanted to gag.

The group all decided to call it a night. Annabeth told Percy that, no, he could not bring another plate of macaroni up to finish in bed and dragged him away after thanking Naomi for the meal. Will said he was looking forward to talking to them all again tomorrow and disappeared. Piper forced herself to smile, hoping it seemed like she was just tired, and she and Jason followed the others away and up the stairs again.

Piper climbed straight into bed after stopping only to brush her teeth and curled up under the covers, but Jason stayed up a little while longer to set out his suit in preparation for the morning and unpack a few other things. She wished he would have just followed her into bed. She knew she could call to him and he’d come over without hesitation, but her pride wouldn’t let her, and instead she laid there alone, moping like a child. When he finally joined her, slipping his arm around her waist and pressing his warm body against hers, she didn’t pull away, but she also didn’t feel entirely comforted.


	37. Chapter 37

It was early even for Annabeth when Percy coaxed her away with a mix of sweet whispered words and butterfly kisses on her neck. Complaining about the early hour was annoyingly difficult when he was being so adorable, but she whined a little nonetheless, rolling over and reaching for him. Where she expected to find the soft cotton of the well worn t-shirt he’d worn to bed the night before, her hands found skin instead, and that was enough to startle her the rest of the way awake.

“I’m heading down to the pool,” he told her, an amused grin on his lips as she stared at him in groggy shock. “Didn’t want you to wake up alone and wonder where I went.”

Annabeth pushed herself up on her arms, blinking at him. The room was still dark, but she could make out his shape in the shadows and that alone was enough reason to stare. “I’ll go with you,” she mumbled, trying to shake off her drowsiness. “I wanna watch.”

Percy laughed and kissed her. He tasted of toothpaste and mouthwash, which made Annabeth acutely aware of the fact she hadn’t yet brushed her own teeth. “Hurry up, then,” he told her. “No time to waste.”

In a few short minutes she had brushed her teeth and hair and was ready to go, deciding not to bother getting dressed when they weren’t even leaving the house. Percy led the way confidently downstairs and to the pool, a towel draped over his shoulders, a pair of goggles and water bottle in hand, and Annabeth’s arm wrapped firmly around his waist. She was definitely taking some liberties with the placement of her hand, her fingers tracing the shape of any and every muscle they could reach. He wore a knowing smirk, not uttering a single complaint.

Annabeth had known the way to the pool, but Tristan had showed them the night before anyway, after Percy mentioned Piper had said he could use it. It wasn’t competitive length by any means, but it was indoor and heated, which was good enough for Percy to get in at least a small workout every day they were in Malibu. He was also intending to make use of the McLean’s small home gym while they were there, but with the wedding only a few hours away he’d decided to spend his free time in the water.

His training schedule was only going to get more intense as summer approached. During his months of indecision he hadn’t been pushing himself as much as he should have, so he had a lot to make up for. Being competitive would require him to spend hours in the pool every day until the Olympic qualifiers in June, and hopefully after. Between that and school, Annabeth knew there wouldn’t be much time for dates. Their relationship was probably going to be unconventional, but she wasn’t sure she minded the prospect, as long as they still got time together.

She could see him as much as she wanted there in Malibu, too, and she was going to enjoy every second of it.

While he started with a warm up rotation of poolside crunches, push ups and squats, Annabeth made herself comfortable in one of the lounge chairs. She’d brought her sketchpad with her, partially because she was feeling inspired as of late, and partially because she would have felt like an absolute creep if she’d just sat there and stared at him the whole time. The creepy staring was tempting, though. It was difficult to take her eyes off him even with her sketchpad to focus on, and based on the way he’d steal glances and flash her smug grins, she knew he didn’t mind.

Watching became even more addictive once he was in the water. With how quick he closed the fifteen foot distance from end to end, Annabeth couldn’t believe he wasn’t making himself dizzy. She remembered the first time she’d watched clips of him on her phone, riding the bus to school. Seeing it in person, even with the limitations put on him by the smaller pool, was even better. His body was undeniably enticing in and of itself, but seeing each and every one of those carefully crafted muscles being put to use, knowing they each served an important purpose, made him that much more attractive. She’d have to make an excuse to sneak into some of his practice sessions when they were back home, see him in his true element.

“Enjoying the show?” Percy asked during one of the short breaks he took in the midst of his routine, his chest heaving from the exertion of his workout as he clung to the side of the pool.

Annabeth considered teasing him, being difficult and coy, but instead answered with a brazen, “Yes, very much.”

“Told you I knew that look,” he replied, giving her a lopsided smile that made her swallow hard and her legs shift under her. 

“Get back to work, Jackson,” Annabeth scolded, and when he laughed and dove back into the water, her teeth were sunk hard into her bottom lip.

Percy was well into the next phase of his workout when the pool room doors opened and Piper walked in. “I figured this was where you’d be when you weren’t in your room,” she said as she approached Annabeth, wearing a playful grin.

“This room has a very nice ambiance,” Annabeth replied with an innocent shrug.

“Mhmm, I’m sure that’s the reason,” Piper said with a pointed look toward the pool. She lifted her eyebrows and nodded in approval after watching Percy make a few laps in the limited space.

Annabeth reached for her best friend, urging Piper to join her in the chair. “What’s up?”

Piper allowed herself to be pulled down. The two of them barely fit, but they had long passed the point of their friendship where practically sitting on each other bothered them. If anything, it was a comfortable position to be in.

“Just feeling a little blah,” Piper confessed. She took Annabeth’s sketchpad from her and leafed through it. That sketchpad was sacred to Annabeth, and she hated most people looking through the rough and unfinished designs within its pages. Piper wasn’t most people. “I’m hungry, but Naomi’s in the kitchen making breakfast, Jason’s still sleeping and I didn’t want to go in alone.”

“It’s okay not to be sure about her yet,” Annabeth told her. One of her arms was wrapped around Piper’s shoulders just for the sake of fitting in the chair and she used the proximity to twist Piper’s hair around her fingers.

The look on Piper’s face told Annabeth she wasn’t sure about that. “She’s nice enough. I guess I can see why my dad likes her, and Will seems cool.”

Annabeth nodded, carefully studying her best friend’s expression. “It might be cool to have him over to the apartment some time, get to know him outside of all… this. In the real world.”

That earned a small smile and a laugh, which Annabeth considered a victory. Neither of them had ever considered their ‘homes’ as the real world. As they’d gotten older, this house in Malibu and Annabeth’s in San Francisco had become more like vacation spots, though sometimes they ended up being nightmare vacations.

“I think I’m jealous,” Piper said softly, sobering up after just a few seconds of reprieve from Annabeth’s subtle joke.

“I get it,” Annabeth assured her. Jealousy, among many other things, had tainted her own relationship with her father and family. It ate at her, made her ignorant to how much her brothers had cared about her, led her to seek approval and attention from places she shouldn’t have. Jealousy was a messy and nonsensical emotion.

“I don’t think Jason does,” Piper told her. “He understands that I’m struggling with this, but I don’t think he gets why. I thought he would, considering how many times his dad has been married, but maybe that’s desensitized him to it.”

“Or he’s a boy and boys are kind of dumb,” Annabeth offered.

“I heard that!” Percy shouted from the pool, once again clinging to the edge, this time with his water bottle in hand.

“Good!” Annabeth called back, momentarily smiling despite her concern for Piper. “Stop eavesdropping!”

“Bye,” he said with a wave, sinking into the water and making both girls laugh.

“Definitely dumb,” Piper agreed, though a little of the tension seemed to have gone out of her shoulders. At least she didn’t seem upset Percy might have overheard some of what she said.

Annabeth rested her head on Piper’s shoulder. “I’ll hate her with you if that’s what you decide, or I’ll help you try to see the good in her and whatever comes next.”

“I don’t think I can hate her,” Piper confessed, and Annabeth knew it was true. 

Piper didn’t have it in her to hate people, save for those who hurt the ones she loved. Even then, Annabeth knew a lot of her vitriol toward them was superficial at best. True hatred required that person to take root in the mind, fester like an infected wound that eventually began to seep into other aspects of life. Piper McLean didn’t let shitty people have that much power over her. Annabeth envied it.

“Well, then when you’re ready for some bright side seeing, you know where to find me,” Annabeth told her.

“Give me one right now, so I can face her for breakfast,” Piper requested.

“She makes fucking great mac and cheese,” Annabeth said, not even having to think about it. She wasn’t the type to go crazy over the dish usually, but even she had gone for seconds the night before. “You can ask for it whenever you visit.”

“A very good point,” Piper conceded, her chest shaking with a subdued laugh.

“And,” Annabeth continued, even though Piper had only asked for one, “did you notice last night? Not a single thing she prepared had meat in it. Maybe it was a coincidence. Maybe she did it on purpose for you, though.”

Piper considered that, staring blankly at one of Annabeth’s sketches. After a short silence, she finally said, in a small voice, “I didn’t even think about it.”

“This is going to come with a learning curve,” Annabeth said. “You might end up with something great on the other side of it, though.”

“Okay, okay, that’s enough bright siding for now,” Piper told her, heaving a sigh, though when Annabeth looked up, Piper was smiling. “Love you.”

“Love you,” Annabeth echoed. “We’ll be down for breakfast before long. I have a feeling Percy’s going to eat enough for a small army again.”

They carefully extricated themselves from one another and Piper said a quick goodbye. Annabeth didn’t like the slouch in her shoulders as she walked away, though. Instinct told her there was more going on, something Piper herself might not yet be fully aware of. Their relationships with their respective parents had always been difficult, sometimes the worst kind of difficult. She’d have to keep her eye on Piper, especially if Jason wasn’t fully in tune with what she was feeling.

“You’re worried,” Percy said, startling Annabeth out of her thoughts. He’d finally pulled himself out of the pool and was toweling off his hair, looking down at her with his brow furrowed. 

“How much did you hear?” Annabeth asked.

He shook his head, and then did it again a little more forcefully to shake some water out of his ear. “Not much. Can’t hear while I’m swimming, and I tried not to listen while I was catching my breath.”

“She’s going to have a rough day,” she told him with a heavy sigh.

“Good thing she’s got you in her corner,” Percy replied.

Annabeth set her sketchpad behind her and scooted to the edge of the lounge chair, then wiggled a finger to signal for him to come closer. When he was within reach, she grabbed the edges of his towel and pulled him down for a kiss. His lips tasted of chlorine and water dripped from his hair and torso onto her, but she kept a firm grip on his towel, not willing to let him go before she’d gotten at least a semi-satisfying taste of him. Her fingers itched to touch him, so she held the towel tighter, until they held so tight her joints ached from the effort. If she started touching him now, like this, she might very well never stop.

Percy seemed to be of the same mind, because his hands rested on her arms and didn’t dare move. They kissed like that, the space between their bodies feeling so vast it might as well have been a canyon, until Annabeth’s head spun and heat coursed through her from head to toe. When they finally parted, their mutual breathlessness had nothing to do with physical exertion. She wasn’t nearly as satisfied as she’d hoped to be, either.

“Piper said breakfast would be ready soon,” Annabeth told him, still not releasing her hold on his towel. “We should probably go get changed.”

“Uh-huh,” he agreed absently, his green eyed gaze piercing, reflecting the dangerous hunger she felt all too potently. “Putting clothes on… definitely what I want to do.”

She swallowed hard, her eyes dropping from where his had held them and trailing down his body. Every muscle was taut and defined from his work out. His skin glistened. The tight fabric of his swim shorts clung to him, taunting her by leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination – and that included providing her with very obvious, physical evidence he was just as affected as she was. These things had never escaped her notice in class, but there they were always surrounded by other people. In the McLean pool house they were perilously alone.

“Sorry,” he said softly, seeming to regain a little of his senses. “I should–” Annabeth cut him off with another kiss, just as intense as the first but laced with budding desperation. He returned it in kind, crushing her lips, welcoming her tongue into his mouth. They remained apart, the distance threatening to become painful, but both of them too afraid to close it despite the agony it caused.

Breaking away again took everything she had, and Annabeth was surprised to find her finally pulling back had nothing to do with the line they were so close to crossing and everything to do with the knowledge they simply didn’t have the time to cross it. Piper needed her. She had to focus.

“Stop apologizing,” she told him, finally releasing the hold she had on his towel. “I’m not too keen on putting you in clothes right now, either.”

“Those are dangerous words,” he observed, straightening up. His labored breathing matched her own and the way he smiled sent a shiver up her spine.

“Yes,” she agreed, “they are.”

“I better go get dressed, then,” Percy replied.

Annabeth nodded, though her eyes once again trailed his body, drinking in the wonderful sight of him. When they focused back on his face, she knew he was fully aware of her gaze, and despite the fact she was in baggy sweats, it felt like he was seeing her just as clearly.

“I think I’ll stay here for a few minutes,” she said. “Catch up once…”

“Once we’ve both cooled down,” he agreed.

She wondered if she’d ever actually cool down, but nodded. They stared at each other for a few more, impossibly long seconds and then Percy nodded, too. “See you in a few minutes, then,” he told her.

It wasn’t until he was out the door that she felt like she could actually breathe again, and as she laid back on the lounge chair and looked up at the ceiling, her heart racing, a smile spread across her face so wide it hurt.


	38. Chapter 38

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dropping in to let you know this chapter is where the implied/referenced suicide tag comes in. it is not heavily graphic, but please proceed with any and all necessary caution.
> 
> if you're struggling with thoughts of self harm, know there is help and hope! please reach out. here is a list of [international resources](http://www.suicide.org/international-suicide-hotlines.html). ♥

Piper was seven when her mom died – simultaneously old enough to _mostly_ remember, but not old enough to _truly_ remember.

In the years that followed, Tristan McLean would never use her mom’s name. There would be no pictures of her kept in the house, not outside Piper’s own room. They would never talk about her. It was almost as if she had never existed at all, as if Piper had popped into existence out of thin air.

Piper knew the truth, though.

She remembered how happy those early years of her life were. She remembered the lazy summer days, together in the backyard of their rundown duplex while she splashed around in the sprinkler and Mom read. She remembered singing together in the shower, Mom scrubbing her hair and, while they were drying off after, saying someday she would be an even more amazing singer than Mom was. She remembered the way Mom held her, brushing hair off her sweaty forehead while she threw up over and over until she cried when she had an especially bad flu. She remembered the 3D Barbie birthday cake Mom baked her, with a giant, princess dress skirt intricately decorated with frosting.

As time went on, though, the memories began to fray around the edges, lost to time and the limits of a child’s developing brain.

She couldn’t remember what kind of books Mom liked to read. She couldn’t remember what Mom’s singing sounded like. She couldn’t remember how it felt to be safe in Mom’s arms. She couldn’t remember if Mom’s cake had tasted as good as it had looked.

Piper also didn’t remember other things, though it wasn’t because of forgetting. At such a young age she was oblivious to the way her mother struggled to make ends meet. She didn’t realize Mom’s singing career had dead-ended and that singing in the nightclubs that were so glamorous to little Piper wasn’t as satisfying as Mom made it look. The way Mom would smile and tell Piper she was her whole world left the girl unaware of how lonely adulthood could be, especially when trying to raise a child. Those things weren’t remembered, but as Piper got older she became evermore aware of them.

There was one thing Piper remembered vividly, though, no matter how many years passed and no matter how many therapists she talked to. The image would work its way into her nightmares. She’d see it when she closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep. It would haunt her even as she walked down the street or a hallway at school for years to come. 

Ghostly pale, white skin. Vacant, unseeing eyes. A slack jawed mouth. Blood. So, so much blood.

Piper didn’t remember calling 911, but apparently at seven years old the emergency line had already been so ingrained in her subconscious she didn’t need to be thinking in order to call it. She did, however, remember the firefighter who had carried her out of that rundown duplex for the last time, wrapped her in a blanket, given her a teddy bear and told her she would be okay. He’d had a graying beard and deep set smile lines around his eyes. His voice was raspy. He smelled of smoke, even though there was no fire around.

The teddy bear still sat on a shelf in Piper’s room, ragged and matted from being carried around just about everywhere Piper went for over a year after. It had been a lifeline, the only thing that gave her any comfort in those turbulent, subsequent months after her mother had died.

Her parents had never been married and her father had been only a distant figure to Piper until then, someone who showed up to her birthday parties or came around every few months, always with a present and a smile, but never with much time to spare. Mom, though, Mom was real and constant and loved her. Piper hadn’t needed anyone else, had never felt like her life was lacking, until suddenly she had no one.

Back then Tristan McLean was still unknown. He’d had a few small roles on TV, enough to pay the rent on his tiny studio apartment, keep the lights on and put food on the table, but still a far cry from the riches he’d one day earn being the star of blockbuster action and romance films. Supporting a kid was definitely not in his budget and raising one had never been in his plans, so they struggled.

Piper supposed, later, when she was old enough to begin understanding, that he did his best. He was good to her, never purposefully cruel or neglectful, but being good to her wasn’t enough to cover up the other truth Piper was painfully aware of – he’d never wanted her. She was an accident, and maybe he loved her anyway, in his own way, but she always knew she wasn’t part of what he really wanted out of life. If anything, she was a barrier in the way of achieving his dream. Making it to auditions and schmoozing Hollywood bigwigs was difficult when there was a kid at home needing to be watched and fed.

His first big break came when Piper was nine, about two years into her living with him. In that time she had learned to take care of herself well enough, because usually he wasn’t there to do it. She could make herself sandwiches, get herself to school in the morning, motivate herself to get through her homework – that was truly impressive to her in hindsight, because as she got older she somehow became _worse_ at those things. She’d see him in the morning only sometimes and before going to bed even less. At least after that first big break they were able to move out of the studio apartment and into a two bedroom, in a better neighborhood with better schools, and a doorman who took pity on the poor, lonely girl who had no one to help her when she stumbled upon an especially difficult math problem.

Another two years later, when Tristan McLean had finally become a household name, Piper was sad to leave that two bedroom apartment behind. The new house was bigger. It suited a star of Tristan McLean’s caliber, and the secluded location was more secure, kept the bigger crowds of paparazzi away. Piper liked being so close to the ocean, too, the freedom that came with so much outdoor space to run around and explore. Her days certainly became more interesting when they moved.

There was no nice doorman, though, and even though her father hired household staff to cook and clean, they never seemed as fond of Piper as that kind man had been. She was always in their way, breaking things, making a mess.

In the end none of that really mattered, though, because halfway through that first summer in the new house Tristan took Piper aside and told her he’d found a nice boarding school in Connecticut for her to attend. She’d live in a cozy dorm and get the best education money could buy, with tons of friends around all the time. Even then Piper was able to read between the lines despite his attempts at making it sound great. He’d be getting her out of his hair, passing her off to some strangers on the other side of the country so he could focus on what really mattered to him, work.

She had tried to tell herself it wouldn’t be so bad. She never saw her dad, anyway. Piper was quick to make friends, popular even. She did alright in her classes, more or less the same as she always had. At least it was true that she was getting a good education, because her teachers there had office hours after class, were able to help her more than her previous teachers ever had. Given the choice, she might have traded them for that doorman, though, especially if it meant she hadn’t been sent _away_.

It was harder with her new roommate, who seemed standoffish and very, very different from Piper, but they got along well enough and that was more than a lot of the other kids could say about their roommates. Some of the other girls on their hall were already being downright cruel to their roommates, even just a few weeks into school, but Piper’s roommate was polite and considerate, while mostly keeping to herself. During late nights when they would be getting ready for bed, awkwardly orbiting each other, she would find herself staring at the little blonde girl across the room. 

Piper wondered what the story behind her presence at that school was, if maybe she was just as unwanted. The other girl was much more studious than Piper, so there was a possibility she was simply there for the quality education. While she generally got along with their classmates, she kept her distance from the other kids, hadn’t really settled into any of the friend groups that had started to develop in the student body. Everything about her made Piper curious, but fear of upsetting the delicate balance they’d created in their safe haven of a room kept either of them from initiating much more than casual conversation about shared classes and homework.

The more time passed, though, the more Piper found she missed her father. He’d call once a week and talk to her for all of five minutes before he had to go again. Her calls with him felt like a chore for both of them, something they did because they were supposed to. Piper found herself growing excited at the prospect of him visiting for Parents’ Day. There would be a festival with games and rides, and fireworks at the end of the night. It was only one day, but it would be the most time she’d ever spent with her dad at once. In Connecticut he wouldn’t have any last minute meetings or movie producers calling him to come out for drinks. He would be all hers.

He called the night before to say he couldn’t make it.

She added the crippling pain of her heart shattering that night to the list of things she would never quite be able to forget.

Broken and more alone than she had ever felt, Piper had buried her face in her pillow and sobbed. She hadn’t heard Annabeth come into the room, though she probably wouldn’t have had the will to care even if she had. Suddenly there was just someone at her side, wrapping her in a blanket, telling her she was going to be okay. It had been so long since someone had shown Piper that much care, she almost couldn’t believe it.

There was no teddy bear. Annabeth didn’t have a beard. While her voice was a little lower in tone than most girls their age, it certainly wasn’t raspy. Instead of smoke, she smelled like the Victoria’s Secret body spray all the girls at school were currently obsessed with. Her face was somber by default, even at the tender age of twelve, no smile lines around her eyes. Those stormy gray irises had been intimidating when Piper had first met Annabeth, but when she looked up from her pillow at her roommate that night, the way they stormed somehow made Piper feel safe, protected.

Neither of them were alone on Parents’ Day. There was not a single festival game they didn’t play and no ride they didn’t brave. The adults weren’t paying them any attention that day, so they ate as much of the vendor junk food as they wanted, until they were so full they thought they might be sick and crashing so hard off sugar they could barely move. That night they brought out a blanket and curled up together on the lawn to watch fireworks, just the two of them, arms entwined and leaning comfortably against each other. It was the most natural thing in the world.

From then on, Piper and Annabeth were inseparable. Sometimes they fought. Sometimes the fights were bad. Both of them had tempers, neither of them had learned how to properly deal with their emotions, but together they figured it out. Together they figured just about everything out. And, no matter how mad they were at each other or what was going on around them, when Piper stumbled across an especially difficult math problem, Annabeth would roll her eyes, let out a little huff, and help her through it.

They were two weeks away from their last day of middle school, curled up together in the last blanket fort they would build together for eight years, when Piper’s voice fell quiet and she told Annabeth about her mom. It was the first time she’d told anyone who wasn’t a doctor the story. She cried. She tried to remember, but so much was already lost. Annabeth just listened, held Piper’s hand, didn’t try to make it better with contrived and cliché reassurances. When all was said and done, Piper felt a little lighter and a lot less alone.

Piper had lived in one duplex, two apartments, one house and a dorm, but she only ever had two homes. Mom had been her first home and she’d lost Mom at seven years old. On that late night in early June, both of them fourteen and still struggling to figure out the cruel world they were left to navigate alone, Annabeth became her second.


	39. Chapter 39

When Annabeth got back to their room, Percy had showered and changed into jeans and a t-shirt. She thought it would be easier to ignore the smoldering sensation in the pit of her stomach when he wasn’t so exposed. She thought very wrong. If anything, the enticing mental image of slipping her hands under his shirt, fighting with the button and zipper on his jeans, was even worse than the simple temptation to touch skin already exposed.

 _Focus_ , she told herself, safe behind the locked door of their room’s adjoining bathroom. Helping Piper through the day was much more important than her out of control hormones.

They walked down to the kitchen together once Annabeth had changed into her own jeans and t-shirt, careful not even to brush arms in fear of sparking something they weren’t equipped to contain. Neither of them spoke their thoughts to words, but it felt very much like they were thinking the same thing. Before the day was done they would almost certainly give in to temptation. Part of Annabeth was still frightened by the prospect, and she wondered if she’d lose her courage once the moment came, but a much larger part of her wanted him too desperately to ignore.

Breakfast was well underway when they arrived. Naomi had arranged a buffet style bar for them, complete with scrambled eggs, pancakes, and both regular and vegan sausage, with all the fixings Annabeth could imagine and then some. This time they ate at the large dining table in the next room over, instead of the kitchen counter, but the atmosphere was still comfortable and familiar rather than formal.

“How’d the pool do for you, Percy?” Tristan asked as he and Annabeth took seats (across from each other, safe from the risk of touching) at the table.

“Great, thank you,” Percy replied, not wasting another second before digging into the monstrous pile of pancakes and sausage he had completely drowned in maple syrup. Once he’d gotten a mouthful down, he added, “I used to practice in one about that size when I was a kid. Seemed a lot bigger then, though.”

Annabeth turned her attention to Piper, leaving them to talk pool dimensions and about renovations Tristan was thinking of doing in that part of the house without her – really, it was a testament to Annabeth’s love of Piper that she was able to keep herself from getting wrapped up in that conversation. There were very few people she would give up the chance to talk about redesigning spaces, especially ones that large and full of potential, for.

“You guys really never lived in your school’s dorms?” Will was asking, giving Annabeth a warm smile in greeting as she joined the discussion. Piper was to her right, Jason on Piper’s other side, with Will and Naomi sitting across from them. From the progress everyone seemed to have made in their meals, Annabeth got the impression they’d been sitting and talking for a while.

It was an easy enough conversation for her to jump into, thankfully, and Annabeth replied, “We’d lived in dorms for what felt like most of our lives at that point. I think we were both a little fed up with them.”

“Dorms before college?” Naomi asked, eyebrows raised. Apparently Tristan had not told her about his shipping Piper off for the better half of her academic career. As petty as it was, Annabeth couldn’t help wondering if it was just because he never thought about it or because he actually felt a little shameful about leaving her alone all those years.

“Annabeth and I went to boarding school,” Piper explained. She was being friendly, and anyone who didn’t know her as well as Annabeth would have been completely fooled by her gentle tone and small smile, but Annabeth recognized the mask Piper was wearing well. It was not dissimilar to the one she wore around Annabeth’s own parents, though she knew it was a defensive response in this case and not fueled by passionate dislike. “We were roommates our first year, in sixth grade, and every year after.”

“You never got sick of each other?” Will asked. “It took me about two weeks to get sick of my first roommate, and one to get sick of the guy I’m roomed with now. Last year I managed to get a single and it was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Both girls laughed, and Annabeth was glad to note Piper’s laugh did sound genuine, if subdued. “We definitely got sick of each other,” Annabeth told him. “Several times, actually. It never seemed to last, though.”

Piper and Annabeth shared a look, a thousand unspoken things passing between them. They’d apologized to each other many times over the years, but sometimes they’d forgone apologies altogether, just fallen back into each other as if nothing had happened, forgiving and forgetting. Annabeth was pretty sure she didn’t even remember half the fights they’d had, even if those fights had felt like the end of the world. In all that time they’d seen the worst of each other, the best of each other, everything in between, and they loved each other more because of it. Piper had made Annabeth believe love could be unconditional, selfless, even when she might have otherwise lost faith in love entirely.

“I only get a little jealous when they gaze at each other like that,” Jason joked, making the rest of them laugh.

A flicker of playfulness made Piper’s eyes sparkle despite all Annabeth knew she was struggling with. “No need to be jealous. Annabeth could have had me a long time ago if she wanted.”

“Piper!” Annabeth chided, though she was laughing along with everyone else. It wasn’t the first time Piper had made that joke and Annabeth knew it was only a matter of time before she eventually made it again – she’d also never been entirely sure how much of a _joke_ it was. 

Jason, his bluff called, ducked his head to hide his blush and went back to shoveling his face full of eggs.

Breakfast went by in a blur of short anecdotes and laughter, Annabeth doing her best to coax Piper out of her anxious, guarded shell. While Piper’s usual boisterous personality remained subdued, there were a few more moments she seemed to genuinely enjoy – like when Will had asked about Jason’s scar and Piper was allowed to tell the stapler story herself, or when they listened to Naomi recount a story about Will collecting caterpillars in elementary school and thinking they’d died when they went into their cocoons. It was all superficial conversation, but they were getting to know each other, at least a little.

Annabeth wanted this to work out for her best friend, to be the start of a new era where Piper might become closer with her father and discover her family again. To some degree, it was projection. Annabeth wished she could have the same chance. Maybe she could still have it with the twins someday, but she knew her father would do everything in his power to stop it. This was something Piper could have, though, and Annabeth would make sure Piper had all the support she needed to make it happen.

“Oh goodness,” Naomi exclaimed, catching sight of her watch as she was taking a drink of orange juice. “I lost track of time. The girls are going to be here any minute to start hair and makeup. Piper, Annabeth, Jason, it was wonderful, but I’ve got to run.” She kissed her son on the top of his head and waved to the three of them, then to Percy as well. A quiet giggle bubbled from her chest as she smiled at Tristan, but they didn’t say anything to each other before Naomi disappeared.

“We should probably start getting ready too,” Annabeth said, looking at Piper for confirmation, who nodded.

Percy, who was already on his third plate – this time a mountain of eggs with copious amounts of cheese and bacon bits – said, “I’ll be up in a bit,” with a cheek full of food. Annabeth sighed and nodded, thankful for that image’s help in dampening some of her unbridled lust. Unfortunately it didn’t help nearly as much as it should have. 

Her fingers laced through Piper’s, the two of them headed upstairs with Jason.

The rest of the morning disappeared in a flutter of makeup, hairpins, dresses and ties. Some of the tension in Piper’s shoulders eased as she got lost in her element, focusing on the things she could control. And control things Piper McLean did, making sure both she and Annabeth looked absolutely impeccable. Jason fluttered in and out of the room, giving them privacy while he collected his things and made sure he was just as presentable, though there was significantly less for him to do. Guys really had it too easy.

Annabeth was sitting in front of the vanity in Piper’s room, having her unruly curls pinned and tucked, when she decided to delicately probe into how Piper was feeling post-breakfast. “That vegan sausage was pretty good.”

“It was alright,” Piper replied, not looking up from the braid crown she was deftly weaving Annabeth’s hair into. “A little dry.”

 _Still not feeling great, then_ , Annabeth thought. She’d had it, too, and it was as good as any she’d ever tried. Piper was being stubborn. Instead of pointing that out, though, Annabeth said, “Did they say how many guests are coming to this thing?”

Piper shook her head. “If it were just Dad, I’d guess several hundred, but then he’d probably be having it somewhere other than the house, too. Naomi doesn’t seem like the type who’d want such a big fuss made, so I’m not sure.”

“Yeah,” Annabeth agreed. “She seems fairly down to Earth.”

“She’s pretty, too. I get why Dad likes her, at least,” Piper told her, wrapping her arms around Annabeth’s shoulders and leaning down once she’d put the finishing touches on Annabeth’s hair. The tone of her voice told Annabeth that was all Piper was interested in saying on the subject for the time being.

They gazed together at their reflections. Half of Annabeth’s blonde hair had been braided into that crown around her head, the rest left to dangle down her back in her natural ringlets. Piper had braided her own down the side, those many mismatched layers causing the braid to fray in an unkempt but stylish fashion only Piper could pull off. A small smile pulled at Annabeth’s lips and she rested a hand over Piper’s. She wondered what those lost, awkward little girls back in sixth grade would think if they could see what the two of them would become. They were beautiful, even if Annabeth did say so herself.

“We’re going to graduate in a few months,” Annabeth said, her voice soft. “No more school, just the real world.”

Piper’s hold tightened, her face tipping against the back of Annabeth’s shoulder. “Are you scared too?”

“Yeah,” Annabeth answered without hesitation, chuckling.

“Well, at least we get to watch my dad get married first,” Piper replied, kissing Annabeth’s cheek and straightening up.

Annabeth turned, reaching for Piper before the other girl could walk away and giving her hand a squeeze. “No matter what happens with your dad you have me, but it’s okay to want more, too.”

“I’m fine,” Piper told her, though neither of them seemed convinced by her words. “Go get your dress on, you stupidly beautiful work of art, you.”

“Work of art?” Annabeth repeated, her eyebrows rising.

“One I’ve very carefully crafted,” Piper confirmed, brushing a few stray hairs out of Annabeth’s face and then brushing fingers over her cheek. “Hurry up. Your boyfriend probably doesn’t know how to tie his tie, either.”

Annabeth watched as Piper grabbed her dress and disappeared into her bathroom to get changed. Something felt wrong, but she couldn’t put her finger on it, and she wasn’t sure she’d know how to help even if she could. Piper was the one who knew how to handle sticky emotional situations, how to guide others through their thoughts and feelings. Annabeth felt completely useless at helping when it was Piper who was struggling.

She returned to her own room and pulled her dress out of the closet where she’d hung it to air the night before. On their shopping date Piper had found Annabeth a beautiful dress that she actually liked – navy blue, a sheer overlay embroidered with colorful flowers and leaves, with a small ribbon belt cinching it at the waist, a hem line just past her knees and an open back. Annabeth was dressed and putting in her favorite silver owl earrings, the only thing she had of her birth mother’s, when Percy appeared from the bathroom, leaning against the door frame.

He looked just like he had the night of the gala, dressed in the same suit, with his wild hair subdued, and Annabeth felt her breath catch as she looked at his reflection in the mirror. His tie dangled around his neck, untied as Piper had suspected, and his hands were shoved into his pockets. “You look worried again,” he said.

“I am,” she admitted glumly. “Something is off with Piper and I don’t know what exactly it is and how exactly to help her.”

Percy’s reflection moved closer, until he was right behind her, and dipped down to brush his lips against her neck, setting her skin on fire and making her eyes flutter closed. “You need to keep those lips to yourself,” she told him, already feeling breathless. She felt him smile against her skin, then pull away. The lack of apology was very satisfying. 

When she opened her eyes he was reaching carefully around her shoulders and placing a necklace on her, his large, strong hands delicate as they hooked the clasp and then pulled away without touching. The thin silver chain held a single charm, a small branch of red coral. She instantly reached for it, fingering the coral as she stared at it in the mirror, and then lifted her gaze to him, surprise plain in her expression.

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” Percy said, a shy smile on his face. “Bad timing, with you being worried and all, but I wanted you to wear it today.”

Annabeth turned to face him, her hands reaching for the uneven tails of his tie and beginning to fold them into a simple knot. “I love it,” she said softly, her eyes on the forest green tie she’d picked out for him, one that matched the leaves and vines in her dress’s embroidery without being too obviously matchy-matchy. Piper had teased her mercilessly about matching at all, but Annabeth had secretly loved the idea of making it obvious they were together. “It’s perfect, timing and all. Thank you.”

“You’ll know what Piper needs when she needs it,” he assured her. From the corner of her eye she could see him still smiling.

“What if I don’t, though?” she asked, not caring about how whiny and lost she sounded, and rested her hands on his chest. The subtle rise and fall of his breathing was soothing, even, steady. It grounded her, made some of her anxiety and frustration fade into the background for at least a few seconds.

His arms slipped around her waist and she found the courage to look back up at him. The smile he wore was still a little shy, but his eyes were a hurricane of conviction. “You will. I believe in you.”

Annabeth wished she had his faith in herself.


	40. Chapter 40

Piper felt empty, drained, as she made her way from the house down to the beach with Annabeth, Jason and Percy. It was only half past noon and she already felt like she wanted to crawl into bed and disappear, preferably for a few days. She’d learned long ago how to put on a smile and pretend, though, so she did just that.

She had hoped putting on her dress would make her feel a little better, but even the bold fuchsia number with a cutout above the waist and a borderline inappropriately short skirt didn’t inspire anything in her. Piper had stared at herself in the mirror for a long time once she’d gotten dressed, fussing with her hair, making small adjustments to her makeup, but nothing helped. Nothing seemed right. Jason, at least, seemed to enjoy the look, and she even managed to give him a mostly genuine smile as he showered her with compliments.

The affair was intimate and fairly casual, with just a few dozen chairs set out facing the ocean and a white lattice arch covered in flowers at the end of the aisle. Wind whipped at guests’ skirts, and everyone had ditched their shoes to better move in the sand. She kind of hated having to take her silver stilettos off. Years ago she’d learned that fashion was armor, it was why she took so much care planning what to wear when it came to days like this. Taking off her shoes, as silly as it might have sounded, felt like chipping away at her armor.

Will was already on the beach, greeting every guest with a smile and handshake, thanking people for coming and chatting up those Piper assumed were friends of Naomi he already knew. He greeted the four of them too, and Piper made sure to put a little extra effort into her smile, ignoring the ache in her chest that swelled at the memory of how naturally Naomi had kissed his head before leaving at breakfast. Her own dad had barely spoken two words to her, let alone shown her such easy, instinctive affection.

Their group took the front row on the groom’s side, Piper sitting in the second chair from the aisle, safely between Jason and Annabeth. Jason slipped an arm around the back of her chair. He looked absolutely dashing in his suit, wearing it like he was born for it. He was, in a way, Piper realized. Though the youngest among his many siblings, there were just as many expectations put on Jason by his father as the rest. He was raised to be a socialite and he wasn’t built to rebel the way his sister Thalia was.

Piper was built to rebel, though. She wanted to right then and there, cause a scene, throw everything into chaos. Several times over the years she’d tried rebelling, and while it had barely seemed to garner Tristan McLean’s attention, it earned her a little more than being good ever did. She’d hoped that might have changed. She’d hoped bringing home a guy as together and remarkable as Jason would have impressed her father. It apparently hadn’t.

Annabeth must have sensed how tumultuous Piper’s mind was becoming, because she reached into Piper’s lap and took a hand, not saying anything, just reminding Piper she was there.

Her gaze turned to her best friend, sitting tall, the breeze tossing her hair and threatening to undo all of Piper’s hard work. Annabeth looked impervious, powerful, while staring out over the ocean. A work of art, Piper had called her, and she still thought so, though not actually because of anything she’d accomplished with simple hair or makeup. Annabeth may not have been the girl next door kind of beautiful, but she had a regal air and sophistication that set her apart, demanded to be both admired and respected.

“I’m surprised it’s not more… _more_ ,” Annabeth said, leaning in to whisper the words.

The hint of a genuine smile tugged at Piper’s lips. “It’s nice. Pretty.”

For a few seconds Annabeth studied Piper, lips turned into a concerned grimace Piper knew very well, but she nodded. “Not exactly the right time of year for a beach wedding, though, even here. I might have to get a coat for the reception. Hopefully we won’t be left waiting here long.”

Thankfully they weren’t. A couple minutes later Tristan McLean arrived, wearing an entirely white suit without a tie, barefooted like all his guests, with his longer than usual hair slicked back and stubbly beard still intact. He looked handsome. He always looked handsome, more so now that his smiles were wider and excited, rather than the subdued, sultry smirks he wore on screen. It should have made her happy to see him that way, but she remained unmoved.

A single musician with a ukulele began to play the wedding march and everyone stood, turning to watch the bride enter.

Naomi Solace was a radiant vision in a simple, knee length, white satin dress with a sweetheart neckline and lace sleeves. Her blonde hair was piled ornately on her head, with a veil pinned into the center of the style. Her bouquet matched the flowers adorning the lattice arch and she, too, had forgone shoes. Piper didn’t focus long on the bride, though, her eyes soon traveling back to the groom and finding him wearing a smile so unabashed and toothy it was nearly blinding.

Piper bit her lip hard to stave off tears. Of all times, _now_ was when her feelings decided to wash over her. It wouldn’t have looked strange for her to cry. To unknowing onlookers it probably would have seemed like a daughter filled with joy for her father. The unknowing onlookers would be terribly wrong, though.

Everyone took their seats again when Naomi reached the arch and passed her bouquet off to her son. Neither bride nor groom had a wedding party, so they stood beneath the arch alone with the minister. Piper’s vision began to blur with the threat of tears as she watched them take each other’s hands. Just as the first drop spilled from her eyes, Annabeth found Piper’s hand again. Neither of them looked at the other, but Annabeth squeezed occasionally as they watched the ceremony progress, traditional vows be made, rings exchanged, and the whole thing sealed with a kiss.

As the minister presented “Mr. and Mrs. McLean” to the world, Piper swallowed back a sob. The audience rose to clap as the couple exited down the aisle, but neither Piper nor Annabeth joined, their hands occupied by how tightly Piper was holding on.

Annabeth looked like she wanted to say something the instant the ceremony was over, but Jason beat her to the punch. “Pipes, are you okay?” She hadn’t even realized he’d noticed her crying at all, his attention having seemed to be fully on the bride and groom the whole time, still, constant, polite. Maybe she had been underestimating Jason, though, especially _his_ ability to put on a courteous show when it was required. 

Piper shook her head, but didn’t trust herself to speak. Also, she kind of didn’t trust herself not to puke.

“Can you take her up to the house?” Annabeth asked Jason, releasing Piper’s hand to press her own to Piper’s back and urge her toward Jason’s open arms. They were huddled together, voices barely above a whisper. “I’ll meet you up there in a few minutes, make an excuse if anyone asks where she’s gone.”

Before the strength could go out of Piper’s legs at the loss of emotional support Annabeth had been providing, Jason’s arm was around her waist, firm and supportive. He nodded. “Bring some water when you come up? She looks a little green around the edges, but maybe something light to eat. She didn’t eat much at breakfast.”

“Tylenol would be good, too, and I’ll try to find something to soothe her stomach, just in case,” Annabeth agreed, her hands moving to hurry Jason and Piper away. 

Even though they were talking about Piper as if she wasn’t there, she wasn’t really offended – her mind was definitely _not_ present. If Piper had been more clearheaded she would have reveled in how easily Jason and Annabeth had bounced ideas off each other, working as a team. She’d seen it in their problem solving back at the airport, but now it seemed even more instinctual for them, their minds so similarly analytical. Piper was nothing if not a constant problem that needed solving.

The trip back up to the house was a bit of a blur, but once they were out of the sight of other guests Jason scooped her up in his arms and carried her the rest of the way, into the house, up the stairs, taking them two at a time even with her added weight, and then depositing her safely on the edge of her own bed. He left her side only long enough to grab a box of tissues off her vanity, then he was carefully dabbing at her face. Through her blubbering she could see the concern in his expression.

“These aren’t happy tears, are they?” he finally asked, though he seemed to already know the answer.

Piper just shook her head again.

He knelt in front of her, quickly amassing a pile of tissues as he tried to stem the flow of her tears and, much to her horror, her runny nose. They had not been dating long enough for him to be dealing with her boogers. “I didn’t realize… I knew you were having trouble with this, but…” he shook his head, more talking to himself than to her. “You seemed okay today, a little happier.”

“It’s not fair,” she managed to say, hating how childish she sounded. She might as well have been seven again, screaming at the universe for taking her mother.

Jason’s discerning eyes scanned her face. “What’s not fair?”

“He still doesn’t want me,” she told him. “He never wanted me, but he wants them, he wants her. Why am I not good enough? Why have I never been good enough?”

His arms were around her in an instant, pulling her against his chest. Piper tried to push away, worrying even while a bumbling mess about ruining his suit and shirt with her running make up and snot, but he held fast and firm. After a few seconds another sob bubbled up and her arms were back around him, clinging to him for dear life. Jason didn’t say anything, just held her, let her cry, and somehow that was better than soothing words and reassurances she wouldn’t have been in the right head space to process, let alone accept.

Piper wasn’t sure how much time passed, but eventually her door opened and Annabeth joined them. Her arms were full – three bottles of water, another box of tissues, what Piper recognized to be Annabeth’s emergency medicine pouch, and a sleeve of saltine crackers. She wore an expression of determined concern, like she was preparing to go into battle.

Jason pulled away, but kept an arm around Piper as he moved to sit beside her on the bed. Without speaking a word, Annabeth handed him the bottles of water and he cracked one open, tipping it into Piper’s mouth so she could drink a few drops. It was only then she realized the worst of her crying had passed while he’d been holding her. The sobbing had subsided and only a few new tears streamed down her cheeks. The water was much needed, refreshing.

“Percy said he could handle things downstairs,” Annabeth said, dropping to her knees in front of Piper and pulling out her tiny travel sized bottle of Tylenol. She tipped out a couple pills and handed them off to Jason, who fed one to Piper, gave her a little more water, and repeated the process. “We have a little time before the reception properly starts. They’re serving hors d'oeuvres and drinks right now while they get the beach set up for the party.”

“Good,” Jason replied, coaxing more water into Piper. “Did you find anything for the nausea?”

“I have Dramamine, but I don’t think it’s a good idea, and I’m not sure it would even help,” Annabeth replied.

“It’s okay,” Piper replied between sips of water and sniffles. “I’m so sorry for this.”

Annabeth took Piper’s chin between her thumb and forefinger and made Piper look her in the eye – those stormy gray eyes had never looked more frightening. “You are not allowed to apologize for this. You’ve done absolutely nothing wrong.”

“She’s right, Pipes,” Jason agreed, though his voice was much more gentle.

Piper felt like she had, though. The onslaught of self pity and bitterness was beginning to wear off, leaving her feeling immature and selfish for being so in her own damn head on a day that was supposed to be about her father and Naomi. She was a stupid, narcissistic, jerk who couldn’t even be happy for someone else, and the worst of it was she still didn’t feel happy for them, just angry at herself for not being.

“What do you need?” Annabeth asked, keeping her hold on Piper’s chin. 

The strength and focus Annabeth exuded was contagious, helping Piper to zero in on the moment and extract herself from the depths of her own feelings. She knew Annabeth didn’t want her to bury her feelings, that when there was time and a safe environment they would be talking through every little detail of what was going on in her head, but they had a party to get through. Unless Piper didn’t want to, in which case she was sure Jason and Annabeth both would whisk her away and never look back.

“Um,” Piper started helpfully, “more water? My makeup bag? Maybe some ice for my eyes? I think they’re already swelling.”

“Fuck, I should have thought of ice,” Annabeth scolded herself, dropping her hand and pulling out her phone. In the middle of typing up a storm, she glanced up at Jason and asked, “Do you have another shirt and jacket?”

“Another shirt, but I didn’t think to bring a back up jacket,” Jason admitted, sounding like he was very upset with himself for not foreseeing this predicament and being properly prepared. He passed the water bottle off to Piper, her hands no longer shaking as badly.

Annabeth nodded in understanding and went back to typing. When she was done, she placed the saltines and her magic pouch of medications on Piper’s nightstand and went to grab Piper’s makeup bag. “Where are your shirts, Jason?” she asked, after poking around the room for a few more seconds.

“Closet,” he answered and Annabeth disappeared into Piper’s walk-in. Piper glanced up at him and saw the way his eyes sparked with concern, the thin line his lips were pressed into as he watched her. “I love you,” he said softly, just for her to hear, and then pressed a kiss against the side of her head.

Piper gave him a weak smile in return, not wanting to speak those words to him when she was quickly returning to feeling numb inside. Those were only words she could say when she felt them with her whole heart, and at that moment her heart was a mess. Jason seemed to understand, though, because he just pressed another kiss to her temple.

When Annabeth returned to the floor in front of Piper, she passed a clean shirt to Jason. Without needing instruction he pulled his jacket off and started undoing his tie. Annabeth pulled out the makeup remover from Piper’s bag and started doing a cleanup job on her face, gentle dabs clearing away all the effort Piper had put into her appearance only an hour or so before.

Piper was feeling a little like a useless baby, between this and the way Jason had been tipping water into her mouth earlier, so she said, “I can do it.”

Annabeth’s frown deepened and she didn’t relinquish the cotton ball. “I know you can, but this is making me feel less useless.”

Piper barked a hysterical laugh, one that felt very good after crying. “You? Useless?”

“Yes,” Annabeth confirmed, her expression softening as she dropped her hand and examined Piper’s face for any more signs of meltdown from remnant makeup. “I had no idea what to do for you down there. I still have no idea what to do for you. I didn’t even remember ice.”

“That’s what boyfriends are for,” Percy interrupted, slipping into the room with a cup of ice in hand. “Emergency ice runs. Among other things.”

“Thank you,” Annabeth said, letting out a relieved sigh as she took the cup from Percy.

Jason was buttoning up his replacement shirt and nodded to Percy. “How’s it down there?”

“Mostly fine,” Percy replied, and for some reason he was taking his jacket off. “We’re swapping suits, by the way. Pants off, Grace.”

“Huh?” Jason replied, and Piper let out another manic laugh.

A small smile was playing at Annabeth’s lips, but she managed to stay in control, wrapping an ice cube in a tissue and then pressing it under Piper’s eye to quell the swelling that was already beginning. “I was going to just have you take Percy’s jacket, but the shades of your suits are too different and it won’t match your pants. You’re the daughter of the groom’s date. You need a full suit. Percy will be fine without the jacket.”

“She’s brilliant,” Percy observed, his voice full of reverence. He’d already stripped down and passed his jacket and pants off to Jason.

“Pants might be a little short on me,” Jason said.

Percy was quick to reply, “You’re not that much taller than me. Jacket might be a little loose in the shoulders, though.”

“Nah, the jacket should be fine,” Jason retorted.

“Is this really the time, boys?” Annabeth asked, flashing them both reprimanding looks. Piper was laughing, though, so none of them seemed too bothered.

Once in Jason’s pants, Percy popped a squat next to Annabeth in front of Piper. “Hanging in there?” he asked Piper, his expression warm and supportive. It was a little embarrassing for Percy to see her like this, but there was no judgment in the way he looked at her, so Piper decided not to let it bother her.

“Barely,” Piper replied, though she was quickly feeling more herself. In the confines of her room, with the three of them surrounding her, bitterness and inadequacy had a much harder time penetrating her thoughts. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” Percy assured her. “If anything, you did me a favor. Annabeth’s been dying to get me out of my pants all day.”

The laugh Piper let out then wasn’t anywhere near the uncontrolled madness of her earlier ones, it was bright and genuine. A dark ache in her chest began to melt away as she watched Annabeth knock Percy over with a shove and yell, ears bright red, and Jason join in the chorus of subsequent laughter. They were perfect, all three of them, working as a team to take care of her and lighten her mood, a little bit at a time.

It clicked then, the real source of the worst of what she’d been feeling. Watching Tristan McLean so happy, seeing him opening up to this new family while he continued to leave Piper on the sidelines, was only part of her problem. His moving on without her had planted a seed of fear in the pit of her stomach, a fear that with Annabeth slowly discovering a happiness of her own Piper would again be tossed aside, lose the one thing, the one person, she’d ever really had.

God, she’d been a jealous fool.

Piper would never settle for someone who didn’t love Annabeth. She had, in fact, ended several relationships over the years simply because they hadn’t liked Annabeth or didn’t want to spend time with her – and vice versa, when Annabeth hadn’t liked _them_. It was only natural for her, but she hadn’t considered it would be the same for Annabeth. There was no way Annabeth would settle for someone who didn’t love Piper, either, someone Piper could love in return. They were a package deal, irreplaceable to each other.

“Pipes?” Jason asked, his voice hesitant and his smile faltering. “You okay? You look like you’re going to cry again.”

Percy and Annabeth sobered up at Jason’s observation, their attention returning fully to Piper. “What’s wrong?” Annabeth asked.

“I’m okay,” Piper assured them, shaking her head and returning ice cubes to the bags forming under her eyes. “Really. I’ll explain later, but… I think I’m really okay now.”

The boys seemed hesitant about her insistence, but Annabeth looked Piper in the eye for a few seconds and then let out a heavy sigh of relief. “Later,” she agreed, brushing her fingers on Piper’s cheek. “For now, we need to get you made back up.”

“I’ll head down, then,” Percy said, satisfied if Annabeth was. He hopped easily back to his feet, but before he could get away, Annabeth grabbed his tie, pulled him down and planted a kiss on him. It was fairly quick, but even Piper could sense how charged it was, making her eyebrows shoot up. When Annabeth released Percy, he was grinning. “I thought I was supposed to be keeping those to myself?” he asked.

“An exception was in order,” Annabeth replied, trying her best to smother a smile and fooling no one with her aloof tone. “You’re excused.”

“You’re excused,” Jason repeated, raising his eyebrows.

“I’m excused,” Percy confirmed, his grin unfading. “I’ll see you all down there. Take as much time as you need. I’ll keep everyone else distracted.”

“I’m starting to not hate that guy,” Jason said when Percy was gone, though from the light way he said it and the warmth in his smile Piper had a feeling that by ‘not hate’ Jason actually meant he was starting to really like Percy. Good, because Piper was, too.

It took them a little time, a lot of makeup, more ice, and some eye drops for the redness, but, together, Jason and Annabeth helped Piper start feeling and looking more herself. Once the brunt of the work was done, Annabeth stood, kissed the top of Piper’s head, and said she was going to head down and make sure Percy’s idea of distracting people didn’t involve any property damage.

When it was just the two of them again, Jason took her hand and asked, “You’re really okay?”

“Not completely,” she told him honestly, “but I think I’ve figured out why I was so… affected.”

“You are more than good enough, Piper McLean,” Jason told her, giving the words gravity, seeming to will them to cling to her.

She still wasn’t entirely ready to process that assurance, but she nodded. Jason looked at her for a few seconds, knowing she was still struggling to fully believe him. Before she could tell him she promised she’d get there soon, he stood up and walked across to the room where he’d set his suitcase. A minute later he returned, holding a small, red velvet box out to her. 

“I was going to wait until tonight to give you your Valentine’s Day present, but I think now’s the time,” he said as she took the box from him.

Piper was admittedly a little afraid of the box. It looked like the kind of box a ring would come in, and if Jason was _proposing_ to her, things were about to get real awkward, real fast. That was absolutely not something she needed. Bracing herself for another disaster, she popped the box open and winced, but when she looked inside there was a key where a ring would have been.

A key was better than a ring, but she still wasn’t entirely sure what was happening, so she looked to him for an explanation.

Jason laughed. “It’s for my apartment. I checked with everyone, and they were all cool with you having your own. Only seemed fair, considering I’ve had one to your apartment since like a week after we started dating. Honestly, it was a little weird Annabeth was so okay with that.”

“Your apartment,” Piper repeated. Any residual negativity clinging her evaporated, her chest swelling with warmth and light. “A key to your apartment.”

“I’m not the only one who thinks you’re good enough, Pipes,” he told her. “A lot of people do.”

She snapped the box closed, set it aside and took Jason’s hand instead. “I love you,” she told him, a repayment for the one she couldn’t bring herself to say earlier, and kissed the back of his hand before adding on a second, “I love you,” just for good measure.

“I love you, too,” he told her, and leaned down to give her a tentative kiss.

Piper wasn’t feeling tentative. Her fingers slipped into his hair, holding him in place as her lips moved to deepen the kiss. She was glad when he responded in kind, his mouth opening for her, letting her take all she wanted from him. For a moment she began to lean back, trying to bring him down to the bed with her, but that seemed to be where he drew the line. His teeth nipped at her bottom lip a couple times, then he broke the kiss.

“Tonight, if you’re still up to it,” he told her, breathless and eyes alight with want. “Annabeth and Percy are going to start worrying if we don’t get down there soon.”

“I can be quick,” she replied, giving his jacket – Percy’s jacket, actually, though it did fit Jason quite well – a playful tug.

“I know you can,” Jason said, exasperated amusement in his voice. Still, he kissed her again, then dropped his lips to her jaw, tracing along it for a few seconds before adding in a much heavier voice, “I don’t want to be.”

A quiet whine sounded in the back of her throat, and Piper nodded reluctantly. “Let’s get down there and get this stupid day over with, then.”


	41. Chapter 41

For all the jokes she made, Annabeth was immensely impressed with how Percy had handled explaining away Piper’s sudden disappearance to the few people who asked.

The cover story itself had been Annabeth’s idea – Piper had gotten drunk the day before out of excitement for the wedding, her stomach had been a disaster ever since, and the emotional roller coaster of watching her dad tie the knot had been too much for her stomach to take. It worked well because it was built of mostly truths. Piper had been drunk the day before. Watching her dad get married had been an emotional roller coaster. No one needed to know the drunkenness hadn’t come with any ill effects or that the roller coaster of emotion had been anything but a happy one. Annabeth didn’t particularly _enjoy_ lying to people, but she was a little good at it when she needed to be.

Will had bought the excuse hook, line and sinker, with a concerned expression and offer to help that had made Annabeth feel even more guilty than usual for lying. Percy had managed to take it a step further, though, seamlessly expanding the excuse to cover Piper’s odd behavior over the course of the night before and morning, so instead of her seeming standoffish or rude, she suddenly became a dutiful daughter suffering silently through illness so as not to ruin her dad’s special day.

Annabeth had never been so devastatingly attracted to Percy as she became that afternoon.

“She’s really okay?” Percy asked in a whisper, after Annabeth had relayed to Will that Piper was recovering nicely and should be back down before the bride and groom made their entrance to kick off the reception. Percy’s arm was around her waist, his breath hot against her ear.

“I think so,” she replied, trying to keep her focus. “We’ll have to talk later, but it seems like she worked through the worst of whatever she was struggling with.”

“Told you you’d know what she needed,” he said, genuinely smug even though she could tell he was teasing her.

Annabeth rolled her eyes, feeling a pang of frustration. “I had no idea what I was doing. I still don’t think I actually _did_ anything.”

Percy brushed a kiss against her cheek, sweet and affectionate, and when he spoke she could hear pride in his voice. “You were a force of nature. You protected her from embarrassment and carried her through until she could sort out what she needed to sort out herself.”

“You’re a very impressive man, Percy Jackson,” she told him, pulling back enough to look him in the eye. Her fingers reached for a few stray hairs escaping his carefully crafted style, brushing them back into place. Styled this way he looked like he belonged in an old film, and she noted then that he often acted like he belonged in one of those old films too, but she missed his usual unkempt self. She liked how real he was, the complete lack of pretense with which he lived his life.

“And you’re a very impressive woman, Annabeth Chase,” he replied, an easy grin on his lips. They looked at each other, Annabeth’s elbow resting on his shoulder as she continued to fuss with his hair long after it was perfectly tidy, the breeze off the ocean failing to chill her within the protective confines of Percy’s embrace, and in that moment she felt content in a way she had never realized was possible.

A small smile played at her lips. “But if you ever tell Piper I’m trying to get you out of your pants again, you’ll regret it.”

“No,” he disagreed, “I don’t think I will.”

The challenge in his voice sent a thrill through her, but she elbowed him in the ribs and turned to see Piper and Jason making their way down the beach to rejoin the party. Annabeth was glad there were very few outward signs of Piper’s meltdown, and those could easily be written off as side effects of a happy cry and an especially violent episode of vomiting. Their cover story would hold, Annabeth was sure of it. No one but the four of them would ever know any different.

Piper and Annabeth embraced as soon as they were within reach of each other, clinging to each other for a very long time without a single thought for who might be looking at them. With her best friend safe in her arms, Annabeth’s earlier contentment became impossibly more intense. Everything she would ever need was within arms reach as Percy stood behind them and Piper held her close.

“Better?” Annabeth asked when she pulled back, bringing her hands up to cradle Piper’s beautiful face between them.

“Much,” Piper confirmed. There was a warmth in her eyes that had been missing since they’d arrived the night before, and Annabeth was thankful to see it returned.

Will had appeared beside them as well, his expression worried but hopeful at how well Piper now looked. “Hey, you okay?” When Piper nodded, her returning expression was tentative and difficult for Annabeth to parse, Will continued, “Cool. Mom and Tristan should be out any minute. Woulda sucked if you missed it.”

“Yeah,” Piper agreed, slipping her arm around Jason.

It looked like Will was going to say something, but then a loud voice came over speakers and Annabeth looked toward the stage that had been set up on the beachfront in the time since the ceremony. “May I present to you all, for the first time anywhere in the world, the now shackled to each other for life, Tristan McLean and Naomi Solace!” The small assembly of guests began to whoop and holler as the couple appeared on stage, hand in hand and smiling. After a few seconds, the voice came through the speakers again and added, “Please note, despite a miscommunication with the minister earlier, the happy couple will not be going by Mr. and Mrs. McLean due to branding issues. Sorry for any confusion this may have caused.”

Piper rolled her eyes so hard they looked like they could have rolled out of her head completely, something Annabeth knew her best friend could only accomplish when she was feeling especially spunky. Annabeth’s laugh was lost in the crowd who were reacting to the playful announcement, but was for an entirely different reason than all the rest. She and Piper would still need to have a talk, but she was growing more confident Piper’s mood really was improving, leveling out, and this wasn’t simply an act she was putting on to keep everyone else from worrying.

During the downtime, the beach had been transformed for a party. Along with the stage, several white stained, folding wood tables and enough chairs for all the guests had been arranged across the sand. A band took the stage, and based on the country twang of their guitars and voices, Annabeth assumed they were friends of Naomi’s. Staff began to flutter around the beach, serving drinks and taking orders from the small menu that had been prepared for the event. The afternoon sun was quickly burning off the worst of the chill caused by the time of year, and overall it was turning into a very nice affair. Annabeth had certainly been to worse.

Bride and groom began making their rounds, greeting guests and making light conversation. Annabeth noted there were several photographers floating around, though they all seemed to have been invited rather than being nosy, invasive paparazzi. Large men in suits, the only people around who were bothering with shoes, wandered around the outskirts of the party, keeping out any photographers (or people in general) of the unwelcome variety.

When Tristan and Naomi finally made it over to where the foursome had taken seats at a table, Naomi instantly zeroed on on Piper. “Piper, sweetie, are you okay?” she asked, slipping away from her new husband and taking Piper’s face in her hands the same way Annabeth often did. “Have you been crying?”

Piper, stunned, took a few seconds to reply. “Uh, yeah, I got a little emotional, felt a little sick for a minute.”

Naomi pressed the back of a hand on Piper’s forehead, her smile turning into a decided frown. “You aren’t feverish, that’s good. Are you sure you don’t need to be resting? Maybe you should go lay down.”

“I’m fine, really,” Piper assured her, looking more uncomfortable by the second, which probably didn’t give her assurance any credence.

“Alright, alright,” Naomi relented, dabbing Piper’s forehead a couple more times with her hand and then returning to Tristan’s side. “But if you need to head back up early, don’t mind us. Take care of yourself.”

Piper nodded, her eyes flickering toward Jason for a second. “I will.”

“You sure you’re alright, Pipes?” Tristan asked, his concern more subdued than Naomi’s had been, but noticeable nonetheless.

“Yes,” she replied with more gusto, and waved a hand to shoo the couple away. “Go on, have fun! It’s your big day.”

The couple smiled, said a few more polite words to the group, and then promised to see them later. Once they were gone, Piper leaned back in her seat and sighed. Her glass was full of sparkling water, but she took a long, deep drink as if it were the finest of liquors. “I need a real drink,” she muttered, but then Jason leaned in, whispered something in her ear, and suddenly Piper’s sullen expression melted away.

Annabeth turned to Percy, letting out a small sigh. “Yeah, she’s definitely fine.”

“Hmm?” Percy replied, then after looking between Annabeth and the now whispering and giggling couple, he added, “Oh! Oh. Well, I guess–”

“Don’t,” Annabeth said, trying to sound stern even though she was very close to laughing. She knew from the mischievous glint in his eye exactly what he was about to say.

“I can’t talk. I can’t kiss you. What is there left for me?” Percy asked woefully.

“You could ask me to dance. Get me away from those two before I see something that will scar me,” Annabeth suggested, trying to ignore the way Jason’s hand was inching up Piper’s thigh under the table. At least he was keeping her distracted and smiling.

Percy tilted his head to see what Annabeth meant and nodded appreciatively. “That guy really is full of surprises.”

“Maybe Will would be up to dancing with me,” Annabeth wondered aloud, pretending to scan the crowd for him. She hadn’t actually meant to find him, but she spotted him leaning against the bar, chatting up the bartender, wearing that sunny, boyish grin that seemed to be his default expression. “I think a few of Tristan’s friends are here without dates, too.”

“Not happening,” Percy replied, jumping right to his feet and pulling Annabeth along with him. 

She let out a triumphant laugh as he led her through the spattering of tables and toward the area of open sand that had been designated as a dance floor. Then one of his arms was around her waist and he was pulling her close, easily falling into a sway in time with the song. She was immediately aware of every place they touched – his hand in hers, his palm flat on the skin exposed by her dress’s open back, their torsos brushing together between slow steps.

Trying to keep her breathing even and her mind clear, Annabeth focused on what the band was playing. She vaguely recognized the tune, but couldn’t place it. Every song the band had played so far had been that way to her. It wasn’t like it was particularly bad, but Annabeth really had no knowledge of country music and hoped Naomi didn’t bring it up in conversation at some point over the weekend. On the off chance Naomi became a more regular part of their lives, Annabeth would need to do a little research, just to be prepared for small talk.

“I have a confession to make,” Percy said, bringing Annabeth out of her thoughts.

Struck by how serious he looked, Annabeth encouraged him to continue as gently as she could with a light, “What’s on your mind?”

For a few beats he stared over her shoulder, pensive, then he took a deep breath and said, “Sophomore year. Fall semester. _The American Short Story_. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3PM.”

Whatever Annabeth had been expecting, that definitely wasn’t it. She took a few seconds to process the words and then, surprised, asked, “How did you know I took that class? I hardly even remember it.”

“Because I took it too,” he told her, and he tried to smile, but it looked more like a wince.

Annabeth tried to remember the course. She’d taken it to fill an English prerequisite and hadn’t been particularly interested in the material. The class had been all reading, lectures and exams, with at least a hundred students. Once she was done with the final, she’d promptly forgotten most of what she’d learned, aside from a couple of the more interesting stories they’d been assigned to read, though even details of more memorable pieces had faded in her mind since then.

Understanding that Annabeth wasn’t sure where this was going, Percy continued, “I sat toward the back, never asked any questions, barely even passed, actually.”

“I honestly don’t remember,” she told him, shaking her head. “I don’t think I ever even talked to anyone in that class. How do you remember?”

“Because, usually, a class like that, where attendance wasn’t even taken, I wouldn’t have showed up except on exam days,” Percy explained, bobbing his head from side to side, not quite able to meet her eyes, “but I was there every day.”

“I was there every day too,” Annabeth replied slowly. “What’s your point?”

Percy shifted uncomfortably on his feet. They were barely moving now, but still as close as ever. “You see, there was this girl. She sat near the front, asked a bunch of really smart questions, had the most beautiful mess of curls I’d ever seen and this little habit of nibbling on the caps of her pens. I’d think, ‘I should skip class today and catch up on homework or spend some time in the pool, maybe hit the gym,’ but still always find myself back in one of those stiff wooden seats, zoning out while I watched her scribble notes and waited for her to ask another one of those clever questions no one else would ever think of.

“I had a lot going on then,” he continued. In her chest, Annabeth’s heart had started to race, her mind struggling to process the words as he spoke them. “I spent a long time kicking myself for not sucking it up and just saying hi. A long time. I figured I’d never see you again, considering how many people go to our school, but then…”

There was no need to finish the sentence, they both knew what happened. He ducked his head a little, and Annabeth noticed his hands had turned sweaty. Percy was nervous. Worried, she realized, that she would be upset he hadn’t told her upfront he remembered her from the obscure class they’d apparently shared two years prior.

“Then you delivered that pizza,” Annabeth decided to continue, pressing her lips into a thin line to try to stifle the smile threatening to break across her face.

“I promise, I didn’t even know your name, I had no idea I was delivering to you,” he said quickly, as if he expected her to think he’d spent two years plotting some elaborate scheme to deliver the wrong pizza to her apartment in order to trick her into coming after him and somehow turn that into a serious romantic relationship. “You were just this… this crazy hot girl I could never quite get out of my head. And after that night with the pizza I was kicking myself again, because… you were different than I expected, and somehow had become even hotter, and I just walked away like an idiot. When you showed up in class the next day I thought, I definitely must have done something really fucking great in my last life, because no one could be _that_ lucky.”

“Different than you expected?” she repeated, unable to keep the amusement at the way he was rambling from her voice. Her mind was actually stuck on the next part, though, that she’d somehow become even hotter.

After another wince, Percy amended, “A good different. Interesting different.”

They’d stopped dancing, the two of them just standing off to the side of what was being used as a dance floor, and Annabeth dropped his hand to slip her arms over his shoulders. Both his arms slipped to her waist, wrapping back around her in return. “Rude different,” she continued. “Entitled different.”

Some of the worry eased from his features, replaced by mild confusion. “I’d kind of expected someone soft spoken, a typical, polite, good student. I definitely preferred the real you.”

“So,” Annabeth said, pulling herself closer to him, “am I to understand your confession is that you’ve had the hots for me since sophomore year? That you drooled over me like a little creep from the back of our class for an entire semester without saying a word to me? And that you’ve kept this secret for the last few weeks in fear I’d be totally turned off to learn you were secretly obsessed with me all this time?”

“Obsessed is a strong word,” he objected despite the tentative smile playing at his lips, “but more or less, yes.”

Annabeth hummed skeptically. “What word would you use, then?”

“Enchanted,” he offered. “Enamored. Bewitched. Smitten.”

All her pretense melted away into a fit of giggly laughter, Annabeth pushing up on her tip toes to catch his lips with her own. His arms tightened around her as he returned the kiss, his body relaxing against her as he realized she was not going to break up with him and storm away. For a complete idiot, he sure was a great kisser.

“You’re not mad, then?” he asked when they finally pulled back from each other. Annabeth hadn’t particularly wanted to, but they were in the middle of a party and she wasn’t interested in having an audience.

“No,” she assured him, feeling light and giddy. “You are a coward, though. Should have made your move the first time.”

Percy shook his head. “The timing was all wrong, wouldn’t have worked out, and I think that would have been worse than if I’d never seen you again.”

“We could have been friends,” Annabeth replied flatly.

“Are you sure about that?” he asked, one eyebrow raised as he made his point by dragging a single finger up the length of her spine, leaving goosebumps in its wake and turning her blood molten in her veins. She knew he was right. They might have tried, and maybe even pulled it off at first, but sooner rather than later she would have succumbed to his powerful pull. Two years earlier, she probably wouldn’t have been ready to let that happen and would have ended up pushing him away.

“Well, thanks for doing something really fucking great in your last life, then,” she said. “I hope I was there to see it.”

Percy leaned into her, brushing his lips against hers in a way that left her feeling like she might very well lose her mind. “I have a feeling you were,” he replied.

“Someone is going to tell us to get a room any minute now,” Annabeth told him, though she couldn’t bring herself to pull away from him. “Probably Piper.”

“Good thing we already have one,” he replied, and though his voice was confident, his eyes were apprehensive, betraying his constant fear of pushing her.

Annabeth pulled back, took his hand and laced their fingers together. Neither of them said a word, but as one they started off toward the house, their steps were swift and sure even as they stumbled through the sand.


	42. Chapter 42

“I really should have told Annabeth where we were going,” Piper mumbled, amazed she could even think clearly enough to have the concern at all as Jason’s mouth trailed a blazing line down her neck. He had her pressed against a hallway wall, her legs hooked around him, dress already scrunched up around her hips. They’d intended to return to her room, but hadn’t even managed to make it up the stairs.

“I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Jason replied, his tongue and teeth teasing back up the path they’d just followed to her ear, making her whimper and wrap herself tighter around him. His body pressed harder against hers and she could feel that his arousal already matched her own. Between that and the way his teeth tugged at her earlobe, she couldn’t stop a quiet moan from slipping past her lips.

“Over there,” she said breathlessly, one of her arms stretching toward the spot in question. “Closet. Now.”

Jason didn’t need to be told twice. As he stumbled a few feet further down the hall, she captured his lips with her own again. Piper was greedy for those lips, wanting both to consume them and have them on every inch of her. He’d indulged her by downing a glass of whiskey before they spirited themselves away, and she could taste it on him, a more than acceptable alternative to drinking it herself – Piper had been banned from consuming any alcohol at the reception to make their story of her upset stomach more believable.

The party itself was boring her. She still felt like a storm was raging inside her, muddling up her emotions even after she’d managed to find that little bit of clarity. Seeing her dad and Naomi making rounds, talking with their guests, smiling and laughing, had rekindled some of her earlier frustration, too. Sure, she understood it a bit better after her breakthrough, but that didn’t stop the bitterness from rearing its ugly head again at the first opportunity.

Sneaking off to get lost in Jason and the sweet pleasure only he could bring sounded like a great distraction from all of _that_.

Her tongue delved into his mouth as his back hit the closet door, demanding a better taste of the sweet blend of Jason and whiskey. She felt as much as heard the deep moan that rumbled in the back of his throat, making heat pool in her stomach and her head spin. His hand dropped from her ass, where it had been doing a wonderful job of both supporting and fondling her, to fumble for the door handle. It took him several tries to find it, but she didn’t mind the delay at all.

Finally he caught the handle, twisted, and they lurched backward into the small space as the door fell away behind them. For a wonderful second she was triumphant, ready to strip him down at unprecedented speeds and ravage him, and then their stumbling turned into tumbling. 

There was a lot of grunting, a scream that was definitely Piper’s, but definitely not the kind of screaming she’d been intending to do, far too many limbs, and then they were in a very unsexy dogpile on the linen closet floor.

Piper wasn’t sure what she was expecting after that, when she crawled over to the wall and groped around for the light switch. It was certainly not to flick the light on and discover Will Solace disheveled and half undressed, sprawled on the floor next to Jason and one of the bartenders from the party, a bartender who was equally disheveled and much more undressed. From his wide eyed expression, the surprise was mutual, and the four of them stayed frozen in their awkward positions for much longer than was acceptable for the situation, if there even was anything acceptable in that situation.

All at once they began to scramble. Piper practically jumped to her feet. Will and his new friend both dashed for their clothes, though Piper didn’t bother sticking around to watch them cover up. She backed out of the closet as quickly as she could and pressed herself against the wall right outside the door, clapping a hand over her mouth and staring blankly ahead of her. Jason was right behind her, stepping out of the closet, making a sharp ninety degree turn, and heading a couple feet down the hall before he stopped and practically ripped off his tie with how roughly he loosened the knot.

It was taking all of her strength not to burst into laughter, when Will slid out of the closet shouting, “Piper, wait!” with his pants still falling off and his shirt buttoned very incorrectly. He stopped when he saw both Piper and Jason still standing there, and added, breathless, “Oh. You waited.”

That was it. She’d reached her limit. Laughter exploded from her and echoed down the hall. Feeling guilty for laughing in Will’s face, she turned toward the wall and tried to hide, because she couldn’t stop. Vaguely she noticed the bartender slink out of the closet, mumble a few quick words she didn’t hear, and then disappear. None of it seemed real. Laughing so hard was making it hard to breathe, her chest aching from the strain and dizziness making her head light.

“Pipes?” Jason asked and the concern in his voice only served to make everything funnier.

This was the most ridiculous day of her life and it was hardly even halfway over. At this rate it would never end.

“I’m sorry,” she finally managed to say, gasping for air. Piper turned back around, going limp against the wall. “I’m sorry. It’s not… it’s not funny. It just… it’s very, very funny.”

When she managed to open her eyes she found Will staring, still mostly a mess, though his pants were now at least properly secured. His gaze kept shifting from Piper to Jason and back. He looked horrified, which Piper would also be feeling were it not for the fact she could only see hilarity in what had just transpired. Jason still stood a few feet away, also trying to process the situation by alternating looking at Piper and Will. 

She almost lost it laughing again when, after looking between Will and Jason for several seconds, she realized they were trapped in a cycle of switching glances. Thankfully she managed not to lose her hard fought cool.

“I guess,” she forced herself to say, knowing she needed to break this silence, “I guess we had the same idea?” Probably not the best thing to say, because it almost made her laugh again.

Will’s mind seemed to clear a little and he took a deep breath. “Please don’t tell my mom.”

The request quickly sobered Piper up, amusement turning to confusion. “What?”

“She doesn’t know,” he replied.

“That… you have sex?” she asked, her brow furrowing. It wasn’t like she was running around telling her own dad about the sex she was having. She hadn’t even bothered telling him when she lost her virginity, if that was something anyone actually did with their parents. Considering she was sharing a bed with Jason now, she figured the implication was there, but wasn’t really interested in thinking too much about who was and was not aware of the details of her sex life.

“That I’m…” he paused, swallowing, then set his jaw and continued, “That I’m gay.”

What little humor had been left drained out of her instantly. Piper had obviously noticed the bartender was a man, but it had hardly mattered to her in comparison to the mortification of the situation as a whole.

“Huh?” she found herself asking. It seemed strange that Naomi wouldn’t know, impossible. They were so close. Piper hadn’t even known them for a full day, but she had seen the way Naomi doted on and adored her son. She’d never met a parent and child who seemed more in tune with each other.

“I think,” Jason said, using his most soothing, diplomatic tone, as if Will were a wild animal at risk of bolting – or maybe Piper was the wild one, honestly, it could go either way, “what Piper is trying to say, is that neither of us would tell anyone anything about what… what just happened.”

“Right,” Piper quickly agreed. “Right. There’s no reason anyone needs to know. Anything. This can just stay between us.”

“Or be forgotten altogether,” Jason offered with a shrug. “Personally, I’ll probably be going with that.”

“Except, if... _you_ … wanted to… talk about it?” Piper told Will, still confused by the idea Naomi didn’t know this crucial detail about her son’s identity. She was also a little confused by her own desire to make the offer. “Maybe not this minute, but… later this weekend? Or when we’re all back in New York?”

“Uh,” Will said, returning to looking blankly between Piper and Jason. “I guess, maybe?”

“Maybe,” Piper agreed, nodding.

“Maybe,” Will echoed.

“But until then, everything can just… be left in the closet,” Piper said, then grimaced. Bad wording, very, very bad.

Thankfully, that made the corners of Will’s lips twitch upward. “We’ll leave it in the closet.”

“I meant, literally,” she quickly amended. “Well, not _literally_ , because that’s not what literal means. I meant what happened, with all of us. It won’t leave the closet. Not that… not that you should…”

“It was a little on the nose,” Will admitted, finally beginning to chuckle. “My mom doesn’t know I’m gay, so I was hooking up in a closet.”

Piper covered her mouth with her hand again, her voice muffled as she said, “Will, please don’t make me laugh again.”

“Sorry,” he said, though he was smiling fully now and didn’t look at all apologetic. Will ducked back into the closet for a second and came out with his jacket and tie in hand. “I should go get… cleaned up. And maybe try to find that guy… whose name… I’ve just forgotten. Wow, I’m making a terrible impression.”

“No!” Piper replied, shaking her hands in front of her to dispel the thought. “No, definitely not. He was pretty hot, I don’t blame you.”

“Yeah, well,” Will glanced from Piper to Jason and then gestured toward him, “you’re not doing too bad yourself.”

Jason, who had been watching Piper and Will’s conversation with a similar expression to the one a person might wear while witnessing a train wreck, suddenly choked on air and fell into a coughing fit, his face turning a beautiful shade of red that reached all the way to the tips of his ears.

“He’s shy,” Piper told Will, both of them now smiling and suppressing giggles.

“I’ll be going, then,” Will repeated, awkwardly, and started taking little steps down the hall. “And… thanks, for understanding.”

Piper wasn’t sure she quite understood, but she didn’t need to understand in order to respect his wishes and his privacy. “No problem,” she told him, giving him a little wave goodbye. Jason also waved, his face still bright red.

Will disappeared down the hall, turning toward the staircase, probably headed up to recollect himself in the privacy of his room.

“That was interesting,” Piper said slowly, looking back at Jason.

“It was definitely unexpected,” Jason agreed, glancing back the way Will had gone.

Her gaze followed Jason’s, half expecting Will to bound right back around the corner. The events of the day had left her mind in a complete jumble, pulling her from one extreme to another and back. Maybe it was best she and Jason had been interrupted. With a clearer head, she wasn’t entirely sure she’d been so eager to jump his bones for the right reasons, and she cared too much about Jason to turn sex into something she used as an escape and not an expression of how much she loved him.

That was a new thought, and one she didn’t have the time or energy to unpack, so she filed it away for later.

“We should probably get back outside,” Piper said, only just realizing she’d never taken the time to straighten out her dress properly. “If we’re not there _and_ Will’s not there, people may start asking questions, or at least comment on how weird it looks.”

Jason’s bottom lip curled into a subtle pout. “You don’t… want to head upstairs too? Pick up where we left off?” There was a hint of hurt in his voice, though mostly she heard disappointment.

Piper hadn’t anticipated Jason not just agreeing with the sensibility of her suggestion. So much for filing her thought away, they were going to have to unpack it right there in the hallway, after all.

She closed the distance to where Jason stood, reaching up to straighten his tie and smooth out the wrinkles she’d put into his shirt and suit. “I don’t think my motivations were right just now,” she told him, unable to meet his eye. “I think I wanted you so badly so I could forget how miserable I felt earlier, and because I’m still kind of annoyed at this whole wedding, not because… not because I just wanted _you_.”

“Is that such a bad thing?” he asked, a little more of that hurt seeping into his voice. “I don’t mind being a distraction when you need one.”

“Jason,” she said, finally looking him in the eye, “I really, truly, can’t get enough of you. But I don’t want to make love to you for any reason other than the simple fact that I am, completely, madly in love with you. I’ve never thought about sex this way before, and I don’t… I don’t want to throw that away. If that means being extremely horny and shit out of luck because I’m not sure about my own feelings, then that’s what it means.”

“So sex is off the table today?” Jason asked, looking very much like he wasn’t sure what she was saying.

“For now, at least,” Piper confirmed. “We can revisit this conversation tonight, once I’m a little further removed from this maelstrom of emotion, but I’m not making any promises.”

It looked like Jason wanted to say several different things, as his expression shifted quickly over a matter of seconds, but then his shoulders squared and he nodded. “Let’s get back out to the party, then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wanted to take a little moment to say a few things to you wonderful readers who make my days so full of smiles and laughter!
> 
> when i started writing this story, it was just kind of a little thing i was doing for myself for fun. publishing it, i figured like maybe a handful of people would read it and also enjoy it and it would be cool that someone else at all was enjoying it. i never imagined how much love the story would receive and honestly i'm floored by your responses every single update. several times i've actually cried because of your kind words, totally mind blown.
> 
> all that said, i really want to be able to chat with you more, so i'm going to go ahead and link my writing twitter! it's [@waddled](https://twitter.com/waddled), because i am nothing if not consistent. i'll probably tweet about my writing process a lot there, if you're curious, and maybe the occasional little not-too-spoilery teaser while editing future chapters.
> 
> ok, that's all. sorry(?) for the cliffhanger last chapter and i'll see you all in a couple days! ♥


	43. Chapter 43

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter contains explicit content.

The door clicked shut behind Annabeth and she leaned against it. Her breathing was uneven, though not particularly heavy, and her heart pounding. She reached back and turned the lock, the second click practically echoing through the room with an air of finality, and she lifted her eyes to look at Percy.

He stood on the opposite side of the room, staring back at her. She watched his adam’s apple bob as he swallowed hard, and then he broke the thick silence between them. “Are we really doing this?”

“Yeah,” Annabeth replied without hesitation. A small grin spread across her face as she added, teasing, “You’ve waited two years, after all.”

“I didn’t tell you that for _this_ ,” he replied, though his grin matched her own.

Annabeth nodded. “I know.”

Percy’s gaze drifted down her body, and even from across the room that gaze was as powerful as any touch. It always had been. When his eyes met hers again, he said, “And I’d wait another two. I’d wait a lifetime.”

“I know,” she repeated, and her grin bloomed into a full fledged smile as her heart simultaneously bloomed in her chest.

“God, you’re beautiful,” he said, and the passion he put into those words made Annabeth feel them all the way down to her bones, made her believe she was the most beautiful person on the entire planet. 

Without another word they were racing toward each other, colliding in the center of the room. He took her face in his hands and she wrapped her arms around him. Percy kissed her like he’d never kissed her before, a powerful force finally unleashed and ready to completely unravel her. She tried to match his intensity but felt woefully inadequate, her body turning to mush as his lips moved against hers, alternating between licking, sucking and nibbling in a way that delighted her senses without ever being too much of a single thing.

His hands slipped from her face and his arms enveloped her. She whimpered into the kiss, her own hands beginning to move in response, slipping up his chest and beginning to tug at his tie. Distracted and weakened, Annabeth struggled to undo the knot she’d tied herself. Her frustration must have been obvious because Percy broke away, breathless and chuckling as his gaze dropped between them.

“Don’t laugh at me,” she whined, her own chest heaving with the effort of breathing. When the knot gave way she had been about two seconds away from finding a pair of scissors and just cutting the damned thing off, but she beamed with pride at her hard won victory and apparently that was too much for Percy, because he immediately caught her lips again.

Her fingers went right back to work, tugging his shirt from his pants and unbuttoning it. She fumbled but still managed to make quick work of his buttons even as her mind was plunged deeper into a haze by the way his tongue teased and twirled around hers. Once she’d conquered them, she slipped her hands beneath his undershirt (really, too many layers) and her knees went weak as she felt her way up his abdomen, touching him for the first time. Those carefully toned muscles of his tensed under her touch, making her feel powerful despite depending on his embrace to keep her upright.

Embrace might not have been exactly the right word. One of his hands had journeyed up her exposed back, hot and heavy, and slipped into her hair at the base of her head. The other had traveled south, his hand squeezing her ass hard.

Percy moaned into their kiss and it was music to her ears, much sweeter than anything the band was playing downstairs. They were both fighting for air when he broke away again, and she would have complained had he not dipped his head and put his lips to her neck instead. Again it was like nothing he’d ever done. He nipped harder, sucked longer, and Annabeth didn’t even care about the bruises she knew she’d be struggling to hide in the coming days because it felt so incredible.

“Off,” she commanded, her hands pulling at his unbuttoned shirt. Neither of them seemed happy at this meaning he had to take his hands off her, but he complied and in a few swift motions he was naked from the waist up. 

Weeks of fantasizing – because she could now admit she’d started having those fantasies the very night she’d met him, even as she was infuriated over that blessed, misdelivered pizza that had brought them together – came to a head as she felt along the broad expanse of his shoulders and chest, muscles rippling. Together, not a word spoken, her arms wrapped around his neck, his hands slipped behind her thighs, and then she was off the ground entirely and he was carrying her the few feet to their bed.

Gently, he laid her back and climbed in after her. Her skirt hitched up, silk and lace pooling around her hips. Percy took his time, hovering as he inched upward, following a path from her belly button, between her breasts, over her chest and finally back to her lips. Fabric covered her skin most of the way, and he didn’t even touch as he went, but she still felt every second of his journey, making heat simmer in her stomach and her legs shift restlessly around him

“Before I completely lose my senses,” Percy said, his voice dark and heavy, making her breath catch, “I want to be clear – what exactly is it we’re doing?”

Pausing was almost painful. Her mind was slow, chest rising and falling hard several times as she processed his question. He was right above her, his body heavy and burning, those sea green eyes as disarming and distracting as ever, and her fingers were threaded in his hair, already destroying the work he’d put into styling it so neatly. “What… what are our options?” she finally asked.

An eyebrow shot up, his lips quirking into a smile that made her want to forget what he was saying and drag him down for another searing kiss. “If you’re not sure about that, maybe we shouldn’t be doing this.”

Her face burned, but not in embarrassment, in annoyance. “I _know_ what they are, but… I meant…” She swallowed, struggling to find the words and only growing increasingly upset with herself for not having them. “I don’t want to disappoint you, after coming so far.”

Percy’s smile faded, his gaze becoming even more intense, and not only with the lust they’d been full of a second before. There was something else there, concern, a flash of anger. “There’s no way this goes that disappoints me,” he told her. “I want you. I’ve wanted you a thousand times. Not just your body, you. And now you’re mine. Anything more is just a really fucking great bonus, but if you have any doubts about that, we _actually_ shouldn’t be doing this.”

She should have hated the way he claimed her, with such confidence and finality, but it was too true for her to deny. Part of her had always belonged to him. Percy Jackson had carried around a missing piece of her for the last twenty-two years and had simply, finally, returned it to her, only to decide he wanted the entire, still very jumbled and unfinished, puzzle in its place. Annabeth was his, and he was hers, and she had no doubts about that. She had no doubts about him.

“Hands,” she breathed. “We start with hands, and… and go from there.”

His smile returned, filling her with warmth and heat and making her feel crazy for thinking those were two very different, but wonderfully compatible, things. “I like hands,” Percy said, his breath already quickening.

“Then put your hands on me,” she ordered. He didn’t have to be told twice.

Hands, she quickly realized, were very powerful things. His moved with purpose, up her thighs and under her skirt, and it was all she could do to lift herself off the bed in time for him to pull her dress up over her head. Her heart pounded as he gazed down at her, those hands of his returning to rest on her thighs. The way his thumbs rubbed gentle circles against her skin, already extra sensitive and burning, made her toes wiggle and curl.

It hadn’t been on purpose, but Annabeth was wearing one of her favorite pieces of lingerie. Everything she owned was more about function than fashion, since she’d never purchased any of it with the intention of it being seen. The cropped corset she wore managed to encompass both, though – black, strapless, with an extra low sitting clasp that had fit perfectly with the line of her dress’s open back, and a simple satin finish. Her underwear matched, again not because she’d intended for them to be seen, just because Annabeth always made sure her bras and panties matched. Going out into the world with unmatched underwear just wasn’t sensible.

Regardless of her intent, the effect on Percy was immensely satisfying. A groan sounded low in his throat and then he crushed his lips to hers again.

Annabeth took that as her signal to make use of her hands, too. They slipped from his hair, down his torso. She’d meant to move quickly, but they were too easily distracted and lingered on his chest and abdomen, tracing the lines of his muscles, making them twitch and flex and drawing increasingly desperate sounds from him. By the time she reached his belt, her lips were sore from the force of his on them and she could feel his arousal as his hips pinned her.

His pants couldn’t come off fast enough, and even when she had them undone, started to tug them down, she felt frustrated. That frustration mounted, and she broke their kiss, hooked her leg around him and rolled, switching their positions. Percy’s head landed back on the bed and he grinned up at her, surprised, but clearly happy to be.

This time it was her lips on his neck, and when they found his pulse point she lingered there, savoring the way it pounded as she took her time peeling off his pants, then underwear and wrapping her hand around his length. Annabeth could feel her own heart pound nervously in her chest, but the way he gasped and tensed in response to her touch made her bold.

“Wait,” Percy whispered, surprising her this time. That was not a word she’d been expecting to hear and she pulled back immediately to look at him with confusion and a hint of disappointment. The expression must have been amusing because he grinned in response. “Hand me the little pouch in my nightstand,” he instructed, instead of properly explaining himself.

“Why?” she asked, though she followed his instruction, releasing him from her grip and leaning across the bed to the stand where she’d seen him store a few things the night before. The small pouch he requested was right at the front and she presented it to him.

Percy still didn’t explain, instead unzipping the pouch and pulling out a small packet, one that looked very similar to condiment packets in restaurants, then zipping the pouch back up and unceremoniously tossing it away. “Hand jobs are great, but not so much when they’re dry,” he finally told her, ripped the packet open and reached for her hand.

Lube. He’d brought little packets of lube on their trip. Annabeth watched in fascination as he squeezed the cool liquid into her palm, his smirk shameless as he gazed back at her. Finally, the contents emptied into her hand, she asked, “Were you anticipating this happening?”

“A gentleman is always prepared,” he responded, tossing the empty packet away without a care, “even for the unlikeliest of scenarios. Also, you know, personal use.”

“Personal use,” she repeated, a giggle bubbling up from her chest as she leaned down to brush her lips against his. Once again her hand moved down between them, and she wrapped her fingers back around his length, giving him a tentative stroke to begin spreading the gel in her palm. “Did you use one of these earlier, then, after your swim?”

His eyes fluttered closed, his head falling back. “Yes,” he answered, breathless, his lips moving against hers as they formed the word.

Knowing he’d already made use of one of those packets thrilled her. She kissed him, long and slow. Her hand began stroking him properly as she did, and though she wasn’t entirely sure what she was doing, she focused on his reactions and learned from them. She’d always been a quick study and she had good instincts.

When her thumb glided over his tip and his fingers curled tightly into her hair, she did it again. When she gave a tentative twist of her wrist and his moaning became louder, she repeated the motion with more confidence. Her mouth explored his chest, not wandering too low, but savoring the taste and feel of his skin, hot to the touch, and tentatively teasing his nipples. Soon she was picking up speed, every stroke pushing Percy a little closer to the edge and making her feel a surprising amount of satisfaction. 

The sight of him, panting, growing sweaty, back arching and hips jerking toward her touch, was sublime. Even the sound of her hand working him, though something she might have otherwise found vulgar, was exciting. Her heart was in her throat, the ache between her legs growing more intense with every twist of her wrist and encouraging sound that slipped past his lips. She thought it couldn’t possibly get better. Then he let out a quiet, strangled cry of warning, she felt his body tense, and he finished in a dazzling show that made her echo his moans with plenty of her own, until he was spent, body stilled, and her hand was covered in his cum.

“Wow,” Annabeth whispered, a smile creeping onto her face as she pushed up onto her knees, straddling him, to take in the afterglow of his orgasm. It was almost startling to realize how much she’d enjoyed the simple act of bringing him pleasure, how instead of being left feeling empty or disappointed she was already gratified and content. Even if this alone were all they did, and she could tell from the hunger still evident in Percy’s eyes that it was not where they would stop, those things still would have held true. Making him feel that good made _her_ feel good, not for the sake of reciprocation, like some kind of expected transaction, but because she just wanted him to feel good and to know she had the power to make it happen.

“Told you I wouldn’t be disappointed,” he said, his voice raw, making the ache she felt for him impossibly worse.

Without any real force or feeling she replied, “Shut up,” and they both smiled. 

As he caught his breath she brought her own sticky hand up to look at, inquisitive and curious. Her eyes locked on his, and for the umpteenth time since they’d arrived in that room she felt the intensity in them threatening to shred her to pieces. They stared in silence as she put a finger to her mouth and tasted him, his breath hitching as he watched. She didn’t try to control her expression, to hide the way her nose wrinkled in response to the bitterness. It was strange and a little gross, but it was him and so she didn’t care, she slipped her fingers into her mouth and sucked them clean one after the other in a slow and deliberate display, unbothered by the flavorless gel also still covering her fingers.

“Holy fuck,” he practically growled, his hands finding their way to her thighs and sliding to her hips. In an easy motion he sat up, pulled her closer, and captured her lips. His tongue forced its way into her mouth, not waiting for permission to taste himself on her. The forcefulness made her whimper, Annabeth winding her arms around his neck and pressing flush against him.

While he had his way with her mouth, his hands continued moving up her back, finding the clasp at the back of her corset, easily unhooking it, and tossing it aside. Her chest exposed, he broke away to look at her. Heat flooded her cheeks in response to his scrutiny, his eyes tracing the curve of her breasts as his fingers did the same. She tried to control her breathing, but it was a futile effort. Her nipples stood pert, at attention for him, and when he brushed a thumb over one she let out a quiet gasp.

His eyes caught hers. One of his hands slipped around to her back, palm laying flat to support her as he leaned forward and drew a nipple into his mouth, never breaking eye contact. Making sure her other breast did not feel left out, his free hand cupped it, kneading and teasing while his mouth worked in tandem. She wanted to watch him, to catalog every second of this so she could come back to it later in her imagination, but her eyes fluttered closed unbidden and her head fell back, chest arching into his touch as she breathed quiet moans in encouragement.

She had never been touched like _this_ , with such reverence and deliberation. Every flick of his tongue and twist of his fingers was slow and intentional, serving her pleasure and her pleasure alone. Annabeth’s fingers threaded through his hair, holding him, desperate for more. As they curled through his messy locks, his hand began to inch away from her chest, brushing down the flat expanse of her stomach. She found the way her own muscles clenched under his touch was just as sweet as the way his felt beneath hers.

Annabeth knew it was coming, but she still gasped when Percy’s hand slipped between her legs and pushed her panties aside. His fingers found her clit with frightening speed and soon she was deteriorating into a panting, whimpering mess. She was aching and sensitive, desperate, and his fingers felt better than her own ever had.

Her hips rolled down against his hand, begging for more, but just as quickly as he’d started he stopped and she was left whining, “No.”

She felt his smile against her chest rather than seeing it, Percy still mouthing at her breasts, alternating between her nipples and the fleshy skin surrounding them, her eyes still shut tight. “Would you like me to stop?” he asked, fingers sliding against her in a languid, vexing motion.

“Stop teasing me, yes,” she replied, her hips grinding down against him.

A single finger slipped inside her then. She gripped at his hair harder, body tensing for a few seconds before he curled that finger slightly and began to move. All the tension went out of her and she sighed in response, hips moving to meet him. The heel of his hand pressed against the swollen, sensitive nub of her clit, not as intense as the direct contact had been, but still sparking pleasure with every movement.

“Another,” she sighed, her head falling forward and face pressing against the top of his head. She breathed in his scent, exactly the same as it had been the night she met him, a comforting blend of soap and ocean breeze. For days after that first encounter she hadn’t been able to bring herself to light the candle that smelled like him. Now she was already on her third, almost always wanting it lit and filling her room with his presence even when he wasn’t there.

Percy obliged, and as he pressed a second finger inside her his pace picked up. The sounds of her pleasure intensified, her sighs and moans growing louder, as his fingers twisted inside her, exploring and testing until they found the spot that made her breath catch and her head spin. He sensed her reaction and didn’t take long hitting that spot again, and again, his breath hot and heavy against her skin as she moaned long and low.

Time slowed down. Her hips jerked against his hand, desperate for more, and this time as she approached her climax he didn’t relent. His lips traveled up her neck to her ear, the sound of his breathing second only in loudness to the pounding of her own heart. Percy whispered her name once, like a prayer, and then she was gone. Her release was wickedly forceful, coming in a series of waves, each one more intense than the last. With every spasm of her body she moaned louder, his hands continuing to work in and on her, until she let out a final whine and collapsed against him. 

For a few seconds he kept at her, making her twitch and sigh and her brow furrow from over stimulation. She was disappointed when he finally retracted his hand, though, feeling her pulse all the way to her core in the wake of his touch. Both his arms wrapped around her and Percy simply held her as she came down from her high. They were both sticky from sweat and slow drying lube, breathing heavily, and she wanted nothing more than to sit there with him for the rest of time, naked body against (mostly) naked body. Her lips were pulled into a weak, but very, happy smile.

Percy, on the other hand, wasn’t content just sitting. Before long his mouth began to brush against her skin, nose nudging her until she lifted her head to kiss him. The intensity of earlier had faded, leaving a slow and needy passion that was just as new to her as his earlier, brutal kisses had been. They kissed and kissed, enjoying the way their swollen lips felt and the simple taste of each other.

“That was…” Annabeth finally said, resting her forehead against Percy’s, but a suitable word to describe it refused to come to her.

He seemed to understand, because he nodded and said, “Yeah, it was.”

“They’re going to start missing us downstairs,” she told him, annoyed by the reality. Guilt wracked her as Annabeth realized she’d left Piper down there without a word, even if Piper had seemed to be in significantly better spirits and well distracted by Jason.

After dropping his head and placing a few kisses on her shoulder, Percy nodded. “You’re right, even though I never want you in clothes again.”

“Agreed,” she said, pushing herself upright and appraising his sweaty, naked form with renewed appreciation. “How am I supposed to handle being in class with you now, though?”

“Be honest, you never really handled it,” Percy replied, tilting his head and drinking in the sight of her in return. He brushed the back of a finger against the swell of her breast, his tongue sliding against his bottom lip, like he already wanted to put his mouth there again, and Annabeth laughed. She could admit she kind of already wanted it there again, too.

“Are _you_ going to be able to handle it?” she asked, pleased with the desire still evident in the way he looked at her.

“Nope,” he answered easily, his eyes flickering up to hers.

“Good,” Annabeth said, feeling smug, and reached up to run her fingers through his mop of wavy black hair in an attempt to return it to its neatly styled state. She leaned down and kissed him one last time, then began to move herself off of him. Her body was stiff and unfamiliar. The ghost of his hand still lingered between her legs, and she hoped it wouldn’t disappear any time soon.

Her first stop was their attached bathroom, where she washed the remnants of sex off her hands and took stock of her appearance. A trail of reddish bruises lined her neck, all the hard work Piper had put into her hair was destroyed, and even Annabeth’s makeup was smudged in several places. When Percy appeared behind her a minute or two later, he wound one arm around her waist and reached with his other hand for a rag. Annabeth laid her head back against his chest, just staring at their reflections in the mirror. Giddiness settled over her at the sight of them together, equally disheveled, wearing matching contented smiles.

Percy reclined back on the bed when they finally made their way out of the bathroom, leaning on one arm while he watched her collect their clothes. Every time she found something of his she threw it at him, trying to pretend she was annoyed that he was just watching instead of helping, but unable to hide how much she loved being watched. His smile turned into a frown when she finally hooked her corset back around herself, but to ease his disappointment she waited until she’d touched up her makeup and managed to do something with her hair to put anything else on. Considering Annabeth had none of Piper’s skill and zero patience, she opted just to twist her curls into a massive bun and call it good.

“Annabeth?” Percy called, sitting on the edge of the bed and finally beginning to get himself dressed. She’d understood his earlier disappointment the moment he had pulled his undershirt back over his head.

“Hmm?” she glanced up at him from her dress, which she was trying to smooth out. 

A deep wrinkle had formed between his furrowed eyebrows. “Are you alright?”

“Of course,” she replied without even having to think about it. _Alright_ actually felt like a massive understatement. “Why?”

“Because we’re, you know, rushing off right after,” he explained while he began to button up his shirt, his attention staying focused on her and making him miss one. “You mentioned on the plane last night that… that he always did that. I don’t want you to feel…”

Annabeth smothered a laugh at the ridiculousness of what he was saying, because she knew he was genuine and concerned, and laughing at him for it wouldn’t be fair. Still, it seemed unfathomable that he could think there was even a comparison. She walked over and set herself down in his lap, swatting his hands away and taking over the buttoning for him. 

“You are nothing like him, Percy,” she said, keeping her eyes on the buttons to hide her nervousness. “Our relationship is nothing like that was. We’re going back down to the party together, where everyone is going to know that I’m yours and you’re mine, because you can’t keep your hands off me and I can’t keep mine off you. We’re not hiding. You’re not running away. At the end of the night we’ll come back here and curl up in bed together, and I will be as impossibly happy then as I am right this minute.”

Percy slipped an arm around her waist to help support her, smiling like he had the whole world right there in his lap. “Impossibly happy, huh?”

“Don’t get too cocky about it,” she chided him, finishing with the buttons and reaching for his tie. “Actually, I’ll allow it, just this once. You’ve earned it.”

“I don’t know,” he said thoughtfully, his eyes narrowing. The act was being laid on thick, because even as he tried to look pensive, Annabeth could see his cheekiest expression lurking right beneath the surface. “I think that was a pretty average performance. I’d give myself a C plus at best.”

She rolled her eyes, giving his tie a little tug as she positioned the knot in place. Aside from his hair and a few wrinkles in his shirt, he was ready to go. “Yeah, well,” she said, slipping her arms around his neck, her stomach doing a small flip as she decided to make what felt like an embarrassing confession, “that was the first time I’ve… had an orgasm that wasn’t… self inflicted.”

His eyebrows shot up, but Percy managed to reign in his surprise quickly, nodding, and the thoughtful expression he wore after was no act. “Well, I plan on making a habit of _inflicting_ them on you,” he said, the emphasis making her give him a little shove.

Annabeth stood, holding her hand out. “Let’s go. I’m sure Piper is beginning to entertain all sorts of scandalous theories about where we are.”

“I haven’t fixed my hair yet,” Percy replied, running a hand through that wavy mess of black hair Annabeth adored more than made any sense.

“I know,” she replied, flashing him a playful grin. Percy understood immediately. Annabeth didn’t want him to fix it. She wanted everyone to know she was the one who’d made the mess.


	44. Chapter 44

Piper’s day continued down the strange and convoluted road it had been traveling since the very start.

When she and Jason had returned to the reception, Annabeth and Percy were nowhere to be seen. She shrugged it off, figuring she would have heard if something important had come up, and went about trying to enjoy herself by ordering the vegan enchiladas on the reception menu. They were pretty great, she had to admit, but she stopped caring about them the second Annabeth and Percy appeared back on the beach. 

They were giggling and glowing, their clothes covered with incriminating wrinkles, hair mussed, generally appearing as if they’d hurriedly put themselves back together after recklessly tearing each other apart. And, as they got closer, Piper could make out little bruises sprouting up on Annabeth’s neck. Dear Lord, Annabeth Chase had _hickeys_ on _full display_.

She had a silent conversation with Annabeth when the couple returned to the table that went something like:

_What the hell!?_

_Not now!_

_Did you seriously?_

_Yes._

_What the hell!?_

_Not now!_

The weird, never ending day continued.

After one thousand years, the sun began to set over the Pacific. Piper had managed to mostly salvage the party. She still wasn’t drinking, but she danced plenty – with Jason mostly, or with the group as a whole, but with Annabeth plenty, Percy twice, and, awkwardly, with her dad as Naomi and Will also shared a dance and everyone watched. Occasionally Piper and Will would lock eyes, chuckle at each other, and then go about whatever they were doing. That, at least, was pretty cool. She decided she wouldn’t really mind a budding friendship with her new step-brother.

That realization was probably what got her through the next sharp turn of the day (or night, considering the sun had gone down and the party was finally beginning to wind down). Before the guests began to file out, the band summoned up several people to make toasts. A couple of Tristan’s oldest Hollywood friends, Naomi’s manager, and Will all took to the stage in turns and give speeches about the couple. No one had bothered asking Piper to make a toast, which she decided was par for the course and didn’t let herself get hung up on it. She wasn’t sure what she would have said, anyway.

Tristan and Naomi took the stage last, both still as bright eyed and smiley as they’d been all day. Piper noted her dad’s face was red and he was a little wobbly on his feet, betraying how much he’d had to drink over the course of the day. He must have been in a good mood, because he wasn’t one to get drunk on any old occasion. Together the new couple confirmed what Piper had suspected since the wedding was announced – they were three months pregnant. Great. _Perfect_.

At the first opportunity, Piper said her goodnights to the newlyweds and made her way back up to the house. Annabeth and Percy were right there along with her and Jason, calling it a night the same way they’d navigated most of the day, together.

Once inside and upstairs, Piper pulled Annabeth aside before they parted ways. Both boys seemed to understand this was girl time, said goodnight to each other and disappeared into their respective rooms.

“What the hell?” Piper finally asked aloud, though she was smiling more than upset.

A light blush appeared on Annabeth’s cheeks, but she didn’t shy away. “It just kind of happened. It wasn’t actual sex, but…”

“But?” Piper pushed, too excited to let it go with such little information. “What exactly was it?”

“He… fingered me, and I…” Annabeth trailed off, but made a very lewd motion that left Piper cackling with delight. “So it only half counts.”

Piper gave Annabeth a very hard smack on the arm, which only made Annabeth smile. “Fingers one hundred percent count, but I expect to hear more about this tomorrow.”

“I’m not giving you a play-by-play, Piper,” Annabeth said with a roll of her eyes.

“You will be answering all my questions,” Piper insisted, those questions already swirling around in her mind and threatening to make her crazy with curiosity. “All of them.”

“Definitely not all of them, but we can discuss this more in the morning,” Annabeth told her, taking her bossiest tone, the one Piper knew meant there was no more arguing with her. “You really look like you need some sleep. This day has been crazy.”

Crazy felt like an understatement, but Piper nodded. They hugged each other for longer than would be comfortable for most friends, swaying a little where they stood. With that, Piper made her way to her room. Shutting the door behind her was a massive relief. It was done. Finished. The Day That Never Ends was finally in the past.

She should have known better than to let down her guard so easily.

Taking a shower, standing under the hot water and feeling the sand and grime be stripped away, was heavenly. Piper wanted to lay on the shower floor and just let the water cascade over her for the rest of eternity. Soaking in a bath was nice, but on days like the one she’d had, there was nothing better than consistent pound of droplets against her skin, washing her weariness down the drain along with everything else.

Jason was already in bed when she finally pulled herself away from the bliss of steam and scalding water. He’d showered and changed before her. Reclined in bed with his glasses on and a book in hand, he looked both distinguished and wonderfully domestic. Piper stood in the bathroom doorway watching him, savoring the simplicity of the moment. Whether he noticed her or not, she wasn’t sure, but if he did, Jason didn’t say anything, letting her watch him until she grew tired of standing and joined him.

“Feeling better?” Jason asked, closing his book as soon as Piper crawled into bed and snuggled up next to him. His arm was around her in an instant and she lay her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes.

“Refreshed, at least,” she replied.

“Are you up to…” Jason paused, and Piper thought she knew where he was going, braced herself for it, but then he surprised her by finishing the sentence with, “talking?”

She lifted her head and looked up at him. “Yeah, I guess… there was a lot to unpack today.”

“There was,” he agreed, and he looked like he was reconsidering what he had planned on saying.

Shifting to get a better look at him, Piper squared her shoulders and asked, “Jason, what’s bothering you?”

There were traces of guilt in his sky blue eyes, but he took a deep breath and answered her honestly, looking like he’d lose his courage completely if he didn’t just get it over with. “Are you really – God, this sounds so stupid out loud, but – are you really attracted to me, Piper?”

The question made such little sense Piper had to sit and blink at him for close to a full minute before she could even manage to reply with, “What?”

Jason rested his head on the headboard and stared off into the distance, his frown so deep and unfamiliar that Piper noticed his scar was even more pronounced than when he smiled. As much as she loved that little scar, she preferred the less defined version of it, mostly because she didn’t like this expression one bit. The only thing she liked less than the look on his face was the question he’d asked.

Finally, he found the words to better explain. “Most of the time I’m confident about where we stand, but every once in a while I feel like maybe you’re going through the motions. Settling. You tell me I’m not like the guys you’ve dated before. The first time I tried to initiate sex, you put it off, and your reason made sense, but after even you found it weird. Then today, when you put on the breaks, again, you said how you’ve never thought about sex this way. I can’t help thinking, the reason you can hold yourself back, the reason you think about us differently, is because you’re just not really attracted to me.”

It was a lot to process, but thankfully Jason seemed to understand as much. Once he was done speaking, he didn’t push her for an immediate response. His focus remained on some unfixed point across the room, Piper’s on a knot in the wood of the headboard a few inches to the left of Jason’s face. Her mind reeled, trying to figure out how to explain the way she felt to him. 

The last couple months with Jason had changed Piper in ways she didn’t know she could be changed, ways she never would have thought she wanted or needed to be changed. For as long as she could remember, she’d approached relationships and love with flippancy, sex even more so. Even her first date with Jason, she’d gone into it expecting to follow her usual patterns. He’d thrown her through a loop, unbalanced her, and when she’d found herself stable on her feet again, she had been thrilled to discover the whole world seemed to have shifted.

She realized, in the middle of thinking, that Jason should be hearing these thoughts, so she took a deep breath and decided to think aloud. That was something she had only ever done with Annabeth, and it was admittedly scary to give it a shot with him. This was pure, unfiltered Piper. Sometimes even she didn’t like pure, unfiltered Piper.

“Jason, I’m not settling for you,” she began, her heart aching at the fact she’d made him think it was even possible. “I was settling before you. I settled for shallow relationships. I often even settled for people I didn’t find particularly attractive, because they were willing to fuck around and not ask me for anything else. I thought sex was a fair substitute for love because I’d never been in love. 

“That night at your apartment I was surprised by myself because I’m so attracted to you, because I’d spent weeks wanting nothing more than to pin you down and have my way with you. But sex wasn’t just a substitute for love anymore, it was… it was an extension of love, an expression of love, and I wanted our first time to be perfect in every way imaginable, because for the first time in my life it meant something more.

“I love you, Jason Grace,” Piper continued. She reached out to him, her fingers brushing gently against his jaw to coax him into looking at her. Her eyes pleaded with him to understand, to hear what she was saying and believe it, because she’d never spoken truer words. The possibility of him not understanding the depth of her feelings was terrifying.

She took a deep breath and let it all pour out of her, bearing her heart, “I love that stupid utilitarian haircut of yours and how frustrated I get when I want to grab hold of it but can’t because it’s so fucking short. I love your eyes, the way they see every little detail of the world around you. I love your lips, the way they taste and the way they feel on my skin. I love that scar, and the story behind it, and the way your sister tells it, most of all. I love your body, how unnecessarily ripped you are for someone who spends most of his time studying, and knowing that the reason you’re so fit isn’t because you’re some conceited muscle head, but because you’ve been going to the gym with Frank every day since you were in high school just to help his confidence.

“I love the way you touch me,” she said, her voice shaking as her eyes began to water, tears threatening to spill over – this really was the worst day ever. “I don’t just mean when we’re having sex, either. I love the little touches, the inconsequential ones, the soothing and comforting ones. They linger on my skin. I loved how clumsy your hands were our first time and I love how quickly they became confident and demanding. And Jason, God… I have never loved anything the way I love the feeling of you inside me. I can’t even look at you without thinking about it half the time.

“So, yeah, the way I think about sex has changed. You changed me. Loving you changed me. Being loved by you… that changed my entire world. So, please,” she pleaded, her tears having long begun falling, “please believe me when I say I’m not settling for you, that when I say you’re not like the others I’ve dated I mean it in all the best ways. You’re kinder. You’re smarter. You’re funnier. You’re cuter. And you are, in every way, the sexiest man I have ever known.”

Everything was there on the line, dangling precariously between them. Despite the fact she hadn’t exerted herself at all, her breathing had become uneven and labored. Piper felt exposed, scared, as those all seeing eyes of his searched _her_. She wanted to know what they saw, if they could see the way she’d all but cut her heart out and handed it to him. Earlier she had been worried that she wasn’t good enough, but not for the first time she feared the opposite – that she was instead too much, overwhelming, desperate, broken, and this was going to be the moment he realized it.

In the blink of an eye Jason tossed his book to the floor, leaned forward, slipped a hand into her hair and pulled her in for a kiss. She returned the kiss, albeit a little stunned, and felt her anxiety slowly melt away. Piper wondered if he understood how much she really did love his lips, because they had become so familiar to her, so comforting. She’d never spent so much time just kissing someone. He always knew exactly what she wanted, whether a light and sensual pressure or something rough and desperate – or maybe they were just so in sync they always wanted the same thing. Tonight it was somewhere in between.

Jason swept her into his lap easily, as if she were as light as a feather. It always made her heart float when he did it and in that moment the feeling was devastating, not necessarily a bad thing, but devastating nonetheless. Piper had been pulled in too many directions by the endlessness of her day. She couldn’t handle being pulled in yet another. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, breaking Jason’s kiss much sooner than she would have liked. A sob was caught in her throat and she hid her face in the crook of his neck, her arms wrapping around him. She didn’t want to upset him by once again refusing him, but she knew she was too much a mess for anything more than a kiss.

Strong arms closed around her and more of Piper’s fears began to fade. She curled up against him, thankful for the security he provided, though wishing he would say something to confirm she’d gotten through to him. If he needed more reassurance, she would give it. Piper would tell him a million more reasons she adored him, list every last perfect thing about him, until he was so inundated with her love he didn’t know what to do with himself. She would fight to her last breath to make him understand.

“I’m the one who’s sorry,” Jason finally spoke. She could hear shame in his voice, which made her feel guilty. The last thing she wanted was for him to feel ashamed for sharing his insecurities. He was allowed to have them and she wanted to hear them so she could ease them for him, they’d just been so shocking to her, like they’d come out of nowhere. “I shouldn’t have put this on you today. Piper, I’m so sorry.”

Piper shook her head gently, keeping herself tucked against him. “Don’t apologize, just hold me.” That didn’t seem to be a problem for Jason, who shifted slightly to get them into a comfortable position and then relaxed against her. Piper pulled herself closer to him, knowing it was very likely she was going to drift off to sleep before long and welcoming the prospect.

“Do you know why I love you?” Jason asked after a few minutes, his voice barely above a whisper. Piper almost hadn’t heard him, having been on the edge of consciousness. Sleep still called to her, pulling her away from reality, so all she could manage was a grunted sound of denial. Had she been more awake, she might have felt ridiculous for it, maybe even pretended she had an idea why someone so perfect and together loved a complete and utter walking disaster.

His arms tightened around her. “You, Piper McLean, feel everything, and you wear it on your sleeve. My whole life has been full of people who hide their feelings, act cold and aloof. They treat feeling anything, and letting anyone know how you feel, as a weakness. Maybe for some people that’s true. In you it’s strength, and I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed something quite as beautiful.”

Despite her grogginess, Piper smiled against Jason’s neck. Nonsense, she thought. All she’d been that day was a massive pile of weakness. Her feelings had crippled her. They had been ugly and self-centered and threatened to ruin one of the most important days of her father’s life. She’d literally had to be carried. She wished she could push her feelings down, control them, not be controlled by them. Her mind couldn’t compute his thinking that was a strength, let alone that it was worth being loved for.

“I’m scared,” he continued, and she heard the fear plainly in his voice, raw and consuming. Her fingers curled into his shirt, clinging to him. “I’m scared I don’t know how to love you back the way you deserve. I’m scared you’ll realize you can do so much better.”

Piper puffed out a quiet, unbelieving laugh. “Don’t you ever say those words again, Jason Grace. There is no one in this world better than you.”

He didn’t respond, instead he adjusted his arms around her to bring her closer.


	45. Chapter 45

This time when Percy woke Annabeth, it wasn’t just with butterfly kisses and whispered words, it was with a hand between her legs, fingers tickling her thighs, and his erection pressed against her back.

“Should I expect this every morning?” Annabeth asked, breathless and blissful, when they were finished and laying tangled together in the afterglow. 

The grin Percy wore was lazy and every kind of sexy, giving her half a mind to pull him in and go another round. “Maybe not every morning, but it sure is a nice way to start the day.”

“Are you going down to swim now?” She tried to keep her disappointment at the prospect out of her voice, lips brushing against the bare skin of his chest. It was hard to believe just the morning before she had been afraid to touch his shirtless body at all. Now she wanted to touch every inch of him, and was free to do so as she pleased.

“In a bit,” he replied, his arms drawing her closer. “We don’t have a schedule today, right? No need to rush.”

Annabeth nodded, content to cuddle closer. “I do have plans with Piper today, though. We may be hard to find for a while.”

“I’m sure I can keep myself entertained,” Percy assured her, his chest rumbling with a quiet laugh. “What are you up to?”

“Top secret best friend stuff,” Annabeth answered, a conspiratorial smile creeping across her face even though Piper was nowhere to be seen. They were both excited for their plans that day, and after the wild ride the day before had been, Annabeth thought they both needed the time alone together.

Percy laughed again and Annabeth loved the way his entire body shook, how she could feel the reverberations all the way down to her own bones. “Sounds dangerous.”

“Very,” she confirmed.

A few lazy hours later, Annabeth sat reclined on the front steps of Piper’s childhood home, in a t-shirt, denim shorts and sneakers, her hair tied back, as she soaked in the late winter sun. If she closed her eyes she could imagine she was back in high school, waiting for Piper to come out so they could be driven into town and go shopping or to one of their many, ever changing, favorite locations. Life was simpler then. A few months ago Annabeth might have wanted to go back, but not anymore. Now she anticipated moving forward, even if there was no simplicity waiting in the future.

A click and familiar whirring brought Annabeth’s attention back to the present, and there Piper was, standing off to the side with a Polaroid camera and a fresh picture in hand. She had a backpack secured on her shoulders and was dressed mostly the same as Annabeth, though her t-shirt was knotted to expose her stomach. Grinning, she waved the developing photo at Annabeth. “Let’s get going, lazypants!”

“You’re not actually supposed to shake those, you know,” Annabeth replied, smiling. She grabbed her own backpack and rose to her feet. “And you’re the lazypants. I’ve been waiting out here for over half an hour.”

Piper hung the camera over one shoulder from its strap and linked an arm with Annabeth’s. “What’s that line – a queen is never late, everyone else is just early?” Piper replied and Annabeth rolled her eyes.

They started toward the road, not even having to think about where they were going. It had been a long time since they last took this journey, but their feet seemed to remember it like they’d done it just yesterday. Annabeth wondered if they’d get further down the road and discover the world had changed, their secret places destroyed as more land was developed and new homes built, but the scenery remained familiar and relatively untouched. She guessed they had the precious privacy of the ultra wealthy families who lived in the area and paid for seclusion as much as beachfront location to thank for that.

One thing that had changed, though, was their endurance. Neither Piper nor Annabeth were particularly out of shape. They both exercised regularly and kept fit, but their youth had been filled with outdoor activities, both in Connecticut where they went to school and there in Malibu where Piper lived. Now that they were city folk, they had grown accustomed to relatively flat streets and the convenience of paved sidewalks. They could walk through the streets of NYC for hours, barely breaking a sweat. Hiking through the wilderness (at least as far as an upscale neighborhood in Malibu was concerned) was a much different story. Even though it wasn’t hot out, Annabeth was soon covered in sweat and breathing heavily as they dodged tree roots and fallen branches on their uphill hike. She much preferred the breathless sweating her early morning had been filled with.

“How did we do this before?” Piper asked when they’d stopped for a water break, seated on a massive boulder Annabeth remembered having stopped at countless times before. They were definitely going in the right direction, at least.

Annabeth shook her head as she gulped down half a bottle. Her bag was laden with them, so she had no qualms with drinking her fill. “I think we’ve got another mile to go, too. We should have brought sleeping bags and just spent the night.”

“At least the wild animals will eat you first when we die out here,” Piper said, appearing to take great, genuine comfort in it.

“What?” Annabeth replied, laughing.

“I’m all skin and bones. They’ll go for the real meat and I can decompose in peace.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes for the second time. “That’s definitely not how it works, but sure, if it makes you feel better.”

The next mile wasn’t entirely terrible. From their vantage point they could see the ocean and they took a slower pace as a result, appreciating the view. By the time they reached their destination, Annabeth was beginning to think they should devote more time to trying to get out of the city and back to nature. Although she definitely wouldn’t start out with a several mile hike.

“Do you remember which tree it was?” Piper asked, dropping her bag and camera next to a log and beginning to poke around the small grove that had once served as their secret hideaway.

Annabeth did remember. The place had barely changed since they’d last visited the summer before senior year of high school. She felt like she’d taken an actual step back in time, like maybe they’d return to Piper’s house and discover the last five years had been a dream of some kind. It seemed surreal that the small alcove of trees would still be untouched when the rest of the world, and their lives, changed so much, so quickly.

“I think it’s this one,” Annabeth said, approaching an oak tree a little thicker than the rest, one that looked like it might have stood there since the beginning of time, and definitely looked like it would be there long after Piper and Annabeth were gone.

Back when the girls were thirteen they’d chosen it as the marker for burying a time capsule, but neither of them had felt it was right to carve their names into the bark or leave any other kind of permanent marker. To anyone else, there were no signs the spot was special, no clues a box full of precious mementos was buried at the base of the trunk. They hadn’t considered not remembering. Thirteen year olds didnt’t think about how little survives in the memory by the time they become adults. Thankfully Piper and Annabeth had returned so many times in the subsequent years, it had embedded itself in their minds forever.

At the time they’d planned on digging it up after ten years, but they weren’t sure when they’d be making the trip back to Malibu again. Doing it a little early, and when they were so close to their college graduation, made sense.

Piper hopped over thick roots to join Annabeth, and examining the trunk, then beamed down at a completely inconspicuous spot next to an especially gnarled and knotted spot in the tree’s roots. “You’re right, this is it.”

“Let’s do this,” Annabeth replied, swinging her backpack off her shoulder and pulling out the only thing she’d packed aside from water bottles – a pair of garden shovels.

By the time they heard a telling _clunk_ and began to pull out the box they’d buried almost a whole decade before, both Annabeth and Piper were covered in dirt. Piper had some smudged across her face from wiping sweat away. Annabeth felt like her nails would never be clean again. They’d found it, though, and they shoved their hands straight into the hole they’d been digging without hesitation.

In the perfect childhood cliché, they’d used one of those old fashioned metal lunch boxes to protect their treasure. The paint was a little faded from time, with a few scratches, but the bright pink background and Hello Kitty design were still bold and visible. Seeing it made Annabeth laugh. It was one of those strange things she’d never been sure if Piper had because she really liked it or just for the sake of being ironic. Sometimes Annabeth wasn’t sure there was a difference.

Piper carried the box over to the log where she’d dropped her things and Annabeth followed close behind. She let Piper sit on the log, plopping her butt down right there in the dirt instead. “Are you weirdly nervous about this?” Annabeth asked, surprised to find she felt that way.

“Yeah,” Piper agreed, looking as confused about the feeling as Annabeth. “I don’t remember what I put in.”

“I only remember the letters,” Annabeth said.

“Oh my God, the letters!” Piper cried, her eyes lighting up. “I forgot about the letters, too. Wow, I wonder what I wrote to you…”

“Probably that you wanted me to throw you off a cliff if you weren’t married to Joe Jonas by the time you were twenty,” Annabeth teased, waving her hands for Piper to hand over the box so they could bust into it.

“I really was convinced he was my soulmate,” Piper said, full of nostalgia, as she placed the box in Annabeth’s hands and then picked up her camera again to snap a picture of Annabeth holding it. They both laughed, and without further ado Annabeth flipped open the latch. Together they dove into the memories that had been so important to them once upon a time.

Right on top were the letters Piper and Annabeth had written to each other the day they decided to bury the time capsule, discolored but thankfully still intact thanks to the fact thirteen year old Annabeth had possessed the foresight to put them in zip-lock bags. Annabeth handed Piper the one with her own neat handwriting across the front, and took the one labeled in Piper’s messy scrawl for herself. They both set them aside, deciding without needing to say a word that they’d save diving into them for last.

“I believe this is yours,” Annabeth said, pulling out the signed copy of Taylor Swift’s _Speak Now_ that was next in the box. Again, not sure whether genuine or ironic.

Piper screamed, ripping it from Annabeth’s hands – okay, maybe genuine. “I lost my virginity to this album, you know,” she said, flashing the cover to show Annabeth, as if it hadn’t just been in her hands. “Not this copy, of course, and actually just to like twenty seconds of _Enchanted_ , but still.”

“I do know that, unfortunately,” Annabeth confirmed. That was a story Piper had told about a thousand times over the years. She held up the next item, one of hers – a copy of Diana Wynn Jones’, _Howl’s Moving Castle_ , with ragged edges and a busted spine from the many, many times Annabeth had read it before sealing it away in the ground.

Seeing it made Piper laugh. “You’d never seen the movie when we met and I thought you were actually insane. What sane person has read the book that many times and never seen the absolute masterpiece of a film?”

“My dad said it was just a stupid cartoon and would never let me watch it,” Annabeth complained, remembering how angry she’d been when finally she watched the film for the first time with Piper and absolutely loved it. Her dad really was an asshat. Looking at the old book in her hand, she had the urge to both reread it as quickly as possible and force everyone to sit down and watch the movie with her.

Next was a small pile of photos from their first two years of school together: the pair of them awkwardly standing together on the day they moved into their dorm, still not sure of each other; an unflattering candid Piper had taken of Annabeth while going through a phase where she never warned anyone what she was doing to catch “authentic” moments; a photo booth strip Annabeth remembered taking a few days before they buried the box; and a picture of them at the carnival that had been held on Parents’ Day, when they’d finally connected and the course of the rest of their lives had been changed.

“God, we were so small,” Piper observed, when Annabeth had finished looking over the pictures and handed them over. “Did you ever brush your hair back then?”

“Not really,” Annabeth admitted. She looked back into the box and then shouted, “Piper!” as she brought out a small basketball trophy she remembered going missing from their school’s display cabinet at the end of their seventh grade year. Its disappearance had been one of the biggest scandals of their middle school career, teachers and administrators searching every room twice in the hunt for it. “Did you steal this?”

“I have a right against self incrimination, Annabeth,” Piper replied, though the way she smiled with smug pride was incriminating enough. Annabeth should have known. She threw the trophy at the criminal she’d been unwittingly living with for over a decade.

Safely at the bottom was a single sheet of paper. Annabeth picked it out, turned it over and discovered a bucket list she’d written out carefully all those years ago. “Oh wow,” she said softly.

“What is it?” Piper asked, her brow furrowing.

“ _Piper and Annabeth’s Very Important Bucket List_ ,” Annabeth read aloud. “ _If incomplete by the time this capsule is opened, drop everything and finish the remaining items_.”

“You were bossy even back then, and to your future self, to boot,” Piper teased. “What does it say?”

Annabeth cleared her throat and began to recite the items. “ _Marry Joe Jonas (Piper)_. Impossible now, so we’ll just have to leave that one.”

“That’s alright, I would have married Sophie Turner if I’d had the chance, too,” Piper said with a dreamy sigh, leaned back and looking up at the sky through the trees, as if she was imagining what that chance might have looked like.

Without acknowledging Piper’s commentary, Annabeth continued, “ _Kiss Davey Reynolds (Piper)_. Check, several times. In our room. In front of me. It was gross. _Graduate Valedictorian (Annabeth)_. Check. _Go to college together_. Check. _Learn to drive (Annabeth)_. Check. _Take a road trip_. Check, more than once. _Fall in love_. Well, half checked.”

“Only half?” Piper interrupted, her gaze skeptical when Annabeth looked up at her.

“I– We– Piper it’s… it’s way too soon,” Annabeth replied, shaking her head. Her voice had gone up an octave and she felt a little like she was panicking, her heart rate kicking up. “Definitely only half.”

“We’ll circle back around,” Piper said with a wave of her hand. “Continue!”

“We won’t circle back around,” Annabeth insisted, but continued just the same. “ _Try beer_. Ha! Check. _Backpack through Europe_. Mostly check, we didn’t do much backpacking, or any, but still. _Get a tattoo (Piper)_. Check. _See a musical on Broadway (Annabeth)_. Check. Check. Check. _Go skinny dipping_.” 

“No check,” Piper said, both of them looking up in surprise. They’d done some crazy things over the years, been to plenty of parties where skinny dipping had occurred, but had somehow never taken part themselves.

“I’m sure that one was supposed to be just you, though,” Annabeth said, flipping over the paper as if it might be able to confirm her suspicions.

Piper shook her head. “That one was your idea. I do remember that. And now we have to do it. Today.”

“We don’t have to do it,” Annabeth replied. “You’re not marrying Joe Jonas, either, remember, and it’s the middle of February! The ocean is way too cold.”

“There’s a pool at my house, Annabeth. It might be fun to run into the freezing cold ocean, though,” Piper replied, tapping her chin with a single finger. “We’re doing it, one way or another. I will strip you down and throw you in the water myself if I have to. We owe it to brave, thirteen year old Annabeth Chase who dared to say she wanted to be naked with me.”

“That’s definitely not what I said,” Annabeth corrected, smiling despite the hard roll of her eyes, the third time she’d done that just on this single outing. Why she loved Piper more with every time she was made to roll her eyes was a lifelong mystery Annabeth didn’t care if she ever solved. “And if that was my goal, then we can check it off, because I’ve seen you naked many, many times.”

“Nope!” Piper chimed, jumping to her feet. “Pack it up, Chase. We’re heading back.”

“We haven’t read the letters yet,” Annabeth objected. That was easily the part she was looking forward to the most. “And I want to eat our lunches before we start that horrible hike again. Maybe rest a little longer. We’ve barely been here an hour and most of that was just digging.”

A zip-lock bagged sandwich was instantly in Annabeth’s hands, followed by a bag of chips and a can of Coke that was way too warm to be enjoyable to drink. “Eat up, then! We can read the letters after we have fulfilled all our thirteen year old dreams.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i had a very busy day and didn't have time to reply to last chapter's comments, but didn't want to put this one off too long since it's already a little late for my liking. T^T thank you all so much. ♥ i'll see you again in a couple days!


	46. Chapter 46

Piper maybe regretted insisting they head straight home about ten minutes into their march back through the wilderness again, but she wasn’t going to admit that. For some reason the idea of something on that list remaining undone (marriage to Joe Jonas aside) made her feel antsy. They needed to have done _everything_. It was too sad to think they hadn’t lived up to their childhood dreams, even if it was just a list they’d written in less than an hour on a whim and not exactly thought much about.

“If you pass out, I’m not carrying you back,” Annabeth said when they stopped for a water break about halfway back to the road. “You’re on your own, McLean. I’ll finally be free from your peer pressure.”

“Peer pressure!” Piper objected, not even bothering to acknowledge the threat, because it was obviously fake. “It was your idea, and you were the bossy one who said we had to complete everything when we read it.”

She knew she had Annabeth with that last bit, because it earned an eye roll – if she was counting correctly, that was four eye rolls just since leaving the house. At this rate Piper might set a record. “I figured you’d be too chicken to actually get a tattoo,” Annabeth told her. “You always had panic attacks when they gave us our flu shots. I didn’t believe you’d actually go through with a needle stabbing an image into your skin.”

“I wanted to overcome my fear,” Piper explained, proud she’d actually managed to do it. “And it was easier not having to see the needle, that’s why I chose my ass.”

Annabeth stuffed her emptied water bottle into her backpack and started walking again. “What did Jason think about your very classy and mature butt minion, by the way?”

“He thinks King Bob is very cute,” Piper replied, reaching back to pat the spot in question, remembering the first time he’d asked about it fondly.

As soon as they’d started going through the bucket list, Piper had remembered sitting down to write it with Annabeth. She also remembered the reason Annabeth put skinny dipping on the list was because Piper had commented that none of her ideas had been fun. Everything Annabeth had come up with had been serious or goal oriented. Maybe peer pressure was involved.

Their relationship had always been like that, though. Annabeth was the rational one, who planned out their futures, made sure college applications had been turned in on time, and kept Piper on track when she got distracted by every tiny, random thing. Piper was the wild one, who came up with spontaneous things to keep life interesting, insisted on pushing themselves out of their comfort zones, and made sure they didn’t miss those tiny, random things others might pass up in favor of the bigger picture. They balanced each other, which was why their friendship worked so well, and why Piper wouldn’t trade it for anything else in the world.

It was almost two when they finally arrived back at the house. Annabeth stopped at the bottom of the front steps and looked at Piper, her shoulders slumped. “We’re both gross with mud and sweat. We can’t go into the pool like this.”

Piper turned to Annabeth, taking a deep breath and placing her hands on her hips. “If you really, absolutely don’t want to, then fine. I’m doing it, though, and since you’re right about being too gross for the pool, that means it’s ocean time. It’s plenty warm for it today, but no one else is going to be out. We’ve got nothing to lose.”

“Fine,” Annabeth relented, a smile on her face even though she’d been defeated. No, not defeated, Piper thought. Annabeth would never give in if part of her, deep down, didn’t actually want to do it. That was the thing, she often had to be coaxed into taking risks, but she usually wanted to.

They dropped their bags in the house’s entryway as they raced through, not caring about how tired they already were from hours of hiking. Piper almost mowed Jason over as they passed through the kitchen to the back door, but merely shouted, “Sorry! Love you!” and kept going without another word, Annabeth close behind and cackling. 

As soon as their feet hit sand Annabeth did a face plant. Piper doubled back to help her up, but ended up falling as well. They laughed and laughed some more, trying to get themselves up and continuing to stumble. Somehow they managed. With sand added to the mud and sweat, holding onto each other to keep from tripping again, they made their way to the water line and then promptly stripped themselves down, throwing their clothes far enough from the shore to keep them dry but close enough to make a quick escape later.

Piper was ready first, letting out a guttural scream that was amazingly therapeutic, and dashed into the surf. Annabeth shouted, “Nice to see you, King Bob!” and raced after Piper, tackling her into the water once they were both waist deep.

It was painfully cold and they both continued to scream nonsense as they grew used to the temperature. Piper’s body quickly went numb. She’d been right about the warmth of the day, though. She probably wouldn’t make a habit of swims that time of year, but the sun was high in the sky and beating down on them, curbing the worst of the cold, and after working up a sweat on their hike the water was refreshing. They splashed each other and did more screaming, laughing as the waves crashed into them and they wobbled around in the water, keeping everything below their shoulders submerged. 

The ocean washed away the thick layer of grime from their hike, but it felt like it was washing away several other things too. They were thirteen again, with no cares in the world beyond kissing some dumb boy (who, by the way, had not been very good at kissing even though Piper gave him several opportunities to improve), anticipating their first beers, and dreaming of seeing musicals on Broadway. They were absolutely free and Piper wished they could stay in the ocean forever, no matter how cold it was.

“We’ve got an audience,” Annabeth said, once the two of them had begun to calm down, pointing toward the shore and trying not to laugh. If she was in similar shape to Piper, her throat was probably raw from all the laughing and screaming they’d already done.

Annabeth was right. Jason and Percy were standing on the beach near their clothes, staring out at them. When Piper had plowed into Jason his curiosity must have been piqued and he decided to grab Percy to investigate with him. She couldn’t make out their expressions, which was kind of a shame. She was sure they were pretty great, one way or another. It was very likely Jason was red in the face, or would turn red very easily if provoked. She loved how easy it was to make that man blush.

Piper wiggled a finger at Annabeth who bobbed over so they could put their heads together and whisper, as if the boys would be able to overhear them from that distance with the ocean so loud between them. 

“What should we do about this?” Piper asked, throwing an arm around Annabeth’s shoulders. They both remained low to the water, letting the waves jostle them around but not moving any closer to the shore.

“Tell the creeps to get lost,” Annabeth replied without a second thought. Piper could see the excitement in Annabeth’s eyes as they began to conspire.

Piper considered the option. “You don’t think we should mess with them?”

“How would we mess with them?” Annabeth asked.

“Call their bluff, head straight to the beach and get dressed right there in front of them,” Piper offered.

Annabeth shook her head, wrinkling her nose. “No, because then Jason would see me and Percy would see you. They’re guys, they’d look.”

A good point. Piper thought for a few more seconds and then offered, “We dare them to join us.”

“Percy wouldn’t hesitate the way Jason probably would, and either way we’d end up with the opposite problem. You’d look too,” Annabeth replied, giving Piper a very pointed look.

Piper stifled a smile. Annabeth did know her well. “You wouldn’t look?”

“Maybe. A little,” Annabeth admitted, choking out a laugh and then covering her mouth. “Also, I’m getting cold. If they come out here, we’re going to be in this water way longer than I want to be.”

“What the hell are you doing?” Percy finally shouted to them, his voice only barely audible over the ambient noise of the ocean. They were out of time.

Thankfully, Annabeth was a champion of thinking on her feet. “I told you, top secret best friend stuff!”

Percy and Jason shared a look, Piper really wishing she were close enough to see them better. It seemed like they exchanged a few words, though they were too far away to overhear, just as Piper had suspected, and then Percy shouted back, “You’re naked!”

“Quite a genius you’ve got there, Chase,” Piper commented. Annabeth was smiling, and Piper instantly thought of the short exchange they’d had while reading the bucket list. Piper didn’t buy for a second that Annabeth was anything other than head over heels in love, the short period of time she had known Percy be damned. Getting Annabeth to admit it would probably take some work, though.

“It looked like they had to discuss it to be sure,” Annabeth replied. “I wouldn’t be too smug if I were you, McLean.”

This time it was Jason who shouted at them. “We’ll cut you a deal!”

Piper and Annabeth looked at each other with brows raised, then Piper shouted back, “Let’s hear it, Grace!”

“Your clothes will not be confiscated!” Jason called out to her, making Piper balk. She hadn’t realized clothes being confiscated was even a possibility (and it probably wasn’t _actually_ a possibility, knowing what she did about the guys, but just the implication was so very un-Jason). “In return, you’ll agree to meet us out at the rental car in an hour!”

“An hour? Is that enough time to read through our letters and get cleaned up?” Piper said for only Annabeth to hear. Annabeth’s eyes were stormy as she considered the deal and Piper knew she was processing a thousand possibilities a second, trying to get to the bottom of the boys’ plan.

Annabeth didn’t reply to Piper, instead going straight to their new enemies, “Two hours!”

“One and a half!” Percy shot back.

“That should be enough,” Annabeth said, her eyes narrowed toward the beach. “Should we make the deal?”

Piper nodded, and then shouted, “Deal! Now get lost!”

“Yeah, get lost creeps!” Annabeth echoed, a hint of amusement in her voice.

“Takes one to know one!” Percy shouted back.

Jason finished the conversation with, “See you in an hour and a half!” The two men turned on their heels and made their way back up the beach, leaving Piper and Annabeth to their own devices.

“What do you think they’re up to?” Piper asked, wrapping her other arm around Annabeth.

“Nothing good, if they’re working together,” Annabeth replied with feigned grimness. “But let’s get out of this water before I become a popsicle.”

Piper didn’t have to be told twice. The girls hurried back toward the beach, the high of their adventure beginning to wear off, leaving them cold and numb, but satisfied they’d accomplished the last goal on their childhood bucket list. Neither of them bothered with underwear or bras as they hurriedly dressed, grabbed the additional garments, and then wrapped their arms around each other for warmth as they headed back to the house. Once inside they collected their bags, snagged some extra blankets to warm up with, and found a spare room to hide from their nosy boyfriends in.

“You read first,” Piper said, when they were settled on the floor in blanket cocoons, sitting opposite each other. “I’m nervous about what stupid things I said.”

Annabeth laughed, poked her hands out from her blanket wrap, and shuffled around in her backpack to procure the letter she’d taken from their time capsule. Delicately, she opened the envelope and pulled out the haphazardly folded notebook paper Piper’s letter had been written on. If Piper were to write a letter like that now, she would use a nice stationary, make sure the paper was folded evenly. Her rushed work from nine years prior was funny and foreign to her in the present.

“Here we go,” Annabeth said, then cleared her throat. “ _Annabeth,_

_“You’re staring at me from across the room like you know I don’t know what to write. It’s making me mad because you’re not wrong._

_“I’m not sure you’ll still be my friend in ten years. You’re so much smarter than me, I figure you’ll leave me in the dust sooner or later. Once you figure out how pretty you are when you brush your hair and pay attention to what you’re wearing, you’ll be unstoppable. You’re going to take over the world. Even if we’re not friends anymore when you do, try to make Joe Jonas marry me, just for old times’ sake._

_“If we’re not friends in ten years, I’ll try to remember where we buried this thing and dig it up. I’ll send you this letter and everything else you put inside. Hopefully it’ll make you smile._

_“If we are still friends in ten years, I’ll probably be embarrassed because your letter is so much better than mine. Don’t make fun of me too much. I tried. It’s hard to think of cool things to write when you’re staring at me like you’re trying to figure out the least bloody way to kill me. I hope someday you meet a guy who doesn’t mind being looked at like he’s about to be murdered, because I doubt you’ll ever grow out of looking at people like this. He’ll probably be a real weirdo. I hope I get to meet him._

_“Love you bunches and forever, even if we’re not friends in ten years._

_“Piper._ ”

While she read Annabeth laughed easily, shaking her head the whole time and looking at Piper’s messy thirteen year old handwriting with fondness and a hint of wistfulness, as if she missed the practically unreadable chicken scratch of Piper’s past self. Annabeth had been worse than their teachers about getting on Piper for her bad handwriting when they were young. She’d pushed Piper to improve it, and though it still wasn’t anything stellar, at least strangers could usually read it now. It warmed Piper’s heart that even after all those years, Annabeth still read that disastrous scrawl without pause.

“You adorable little fool,” Annabeth chided, pulling the letter into her blanket now that she’d finished reading it. Piper assumed from the way the blanket shifted around her, that Annabeth was holding the page to her chest. “How could you even for a second think I would leave you in the dust?”

Piper felt a swell of guilt. It hadn’t just been eight years ago she worried about that. The day before she’d had a small meltdown partly because she was so scared Annabeth might eventually do that very thing. 

“Sometimes I have to work to remind myself you want me in your life as much as I want you in mine,” Piper confessed, her eyes locked on the floor in front of her. “That’s… a little of why I was so upset yesterday. Part of me kept thinking it was only a matter of time before you found your happiness and didn’t need me anymore, just like Dad.”

“There’s no happiness for me without you, Piper,” Annabeth said, her voice gentle and full of love. “There never has been and there never will be.”

“I know it was stupid,” Piper said, trying to dismiss her own thoughts as she dabbed at her eyes. There was a very real risk she’d start crying again.

Annabeth scooted across the floor, opened up her blanket and attached herself to Piper like a koala, arms, legs and blanket all. “Very stupid. The stupidest stupid.”

“Shut up,” Piper replied, though she leaned into Annabeth, smiling.

“Read your letter,” Annabeth commanded, nuzzling against Piper’s arm. “I’ll close my eyes so I don’t read it over your shoulder.”

The offer made Piper smile wider. She was definitely thinking of telling Annabeth to shove off before reading for the very reason she didn’t like having someone reading over her shoulder. It never ceased to amaze her how well Annabeth knew her, even after over a decade of friendship, and that someone who knew her so well could simultaneously love her so much.

“Here we go,” Piper began, pulling out her own letter and taking a deep breath. “ _Dear Piper,_

_“You’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met. Ten years from now that will still be true, no matter how many amazing people we’ve met or how many amazing places we’ve been. I feel bad for all the people in the world who don’t know you yet, and even worse for the people who never will._

_“In ten years we’ll already have graduated college and be out in the real world chasing our dreams. You said the other day you weren’t sure if you wanted to go to college at all. Too bad. You may not know it yet, but you’re going with me. We’re doing everything together. I’m even thinking double weddings. Not until we’re like 30, though. I could maybe be talked down to late 20s. We’ll see how things go._

_“I have a lot of plans for our future, but it’s okay if they fall through. The only thing that matters is that we stick together. You and me. Ride or die. Whatever the future holds, even if we face a zombie apocalypse, it’ll be okay. I mean, I’m definitely going to shoot you if you get bitten, but I know you’ll shoot me too. You better have shot me if you’re reading this after a zombie apocalypse!_

_“Thanks for being my best friend. I love you._

_“Annabeth._

_“P.S. I can’t say this to your face, but you can do way better than Joe Jonas and way, way, way better than Davey Reynolds. Seriously, McLean? He’s not even cute. Davey, I mean. Joe’s okay, but he’s no Nick._ ”

Piper ducked her head, wiping her eyes on her blanket. About as soon as she’d started reading, her tears had made good on their earlier threat and spilled over. “I would absolutely never shoot you in a zombie apocalypse. I’d let you bite me and we’d be zombies together forever.”

Annabeth laughed. “You’re fired, then. Time to find a new best friend.”

“Too late now,” Piper replied, sniffling.

“It was too late a long time ago,” Annabeth told Piper, her tone softening as she continued to cling tight. “Do you need to talk about it more? About the way you felt yesterday.”

“No,” Piper replied after a few seconds of consideration. “I know you’re not going anywhere. And, honestly? It helps that I really like Percy. Our lives may start to change from here on out, but I think I’m going to like the ways they change, especially if those changes include Jason and Percy.”

“I think I’m going to like the ways they change, too,” Annabeth agreed, chuckling quietly and hiding her face against Piper’s shoulder. “I was right, by the way. We really are doing everything together.”

“Are you going to tell me about what you were feeling yesterday?” Piper asked. She couldn’t believe they’d been alone together for hours and Annabeth had not said a single thing about the giant leap she’d taken with Percy the day before. 

Never mind that Piper hadn’t mentioned her own big issue from the previous night. Annabeth didn’t need to know about the strange, scary conversation Piper had with Jason right that minute. Eventually Piper would tell her, but it was still too fresh. Piper was confused and, for the moment, much more inclined to focus on Annabeth than herself. She’d always been better at dealing with other people’s feelings than her own.

Annabeth sat up, loosening her hold on Piper but still keeping arms and legs attached. “You can ask me five questions. I will answer them honestly and without dodging any of them. That’s all you get, though.”

“Five? Only five?” Piper replied, incredulous. There were way more than five.

“Take it or leave it,” Annabeth replied.

Piper knew that wasn’t a bluff. If she didn’t accept the opportunity to ask her five questions, she’d be left to rot in a pool of her own curiosity. Alright. Five questions. She could do this, it would just take a little thought. She shifted so she could face Annabeth while they spoke without disentangling from her.

“How was it?” Piper asked, deciding to start with the most basic of her questions, especially because no other answer really mattered so long as this one was positive.

The way Annabeth smiled told Piper all she needed to know, but she still got a proper answer. “Absolutely amazing. Piper it was… it was perfect. It was also perfect again this morning. I was surprised by how intimate and satisfying it could be even though we… kept it simple.”

“You know I have to ask, how big was it?”

The question made Annabeth roll her eyes (that was five) and a slight blush creep across her cheeks. Embarrassment had no power over Annabeth Chase, though. “I don’t know? It wasn’t… small, but it wasn’t like, alarmingly large or anything. A satisfactory size, happy?”

Piper’s eyebrows raised and a smile on her face, she answered, “Very. Very happy.”

“Three more questions,” Annabeth reminded Piper in a sing-song tone.

“Why yesterday?” Piper asked. Deep down she knew why, though not the entire story behind it. She knew her best friend was in love, whether Annabeth could admit it to herself yet or not. Maybe getting Annabeth to go into detail would make her stubborn ass begin to see as much.

“He told me that night he delivered our pizza wasn’t the first time he’d seen me,” Annabeth answered, her gaze becoming distant and dreamy. “Apparently we had a class together sophomore year and he had a little… I guess it was a crush? But he never said anything and figured we’d never see each other again. Then we did.”

“That is disgustingly cute,” Piper replied, wrinkling her nose. “Why did he wait so long to tell you? Wait – no. That’s not one of my questions. Don’t answer that.”

“I’ll give you that one for free,” Annabeth offered, laughing, and Piper knew her best friend had to be truly happy to make an exception after establishing strict rules. “I think he was worried I’d misunderstand. He was nervous, but I got the feeling he felt guilty for keeping it a secret, too. It felt good, though, the way he talked about it, about me.”

“Question three,” Piper said, grinning at the contented expression Annabeth wore. She wiggled her eyebrows. “When do you think you’ll be ready to do more?”

Annabeth laughed, shaking her head but not actually looking at all surprised. “I’m not sure. This morning I was a little tempted, but just as soon as I felt tempted I chickened out. Using our hands feels… safe. I don’t want to be safe forever, but for now it’s a good place to be.”

Piper rested her head on Annabeth’s shoulder, snuggling a little closer again. “You should always feel safe, Annabeth. When you’re ready, the next step will feel just as safe as the first one did. At least, it should. If it doesn’t feel that way, you’re not really ready.”

“That wasn’t a question,” Annabeth observed with amusement, though Piper got the impression Annabeth did feel comforted by the assurance.

“You’re right,” Piper agreed. “Question four – you said it was _satisfying_ , does that mean you had yourself a nice little orgasm?”

“Yes, it does,” Annabeth confirmed, smug. “Both yesterday and this morning.”

“I’ll have to send Percy a thank you card,” Piper said, then screamed a second later as Annabeth pinched her side.

“You absolutely will not!” Annabeth ordered. “Ask your fifth question so we can get on with our lives, please.”

“You said you’d answer anything honestly without dodging,” Piper reminded her, not deterred by the way Annabeth was glaring at her. If any uncomfortable boundaries had been crossed, she knew Annabeth would have said so outright. “Final question! Did he do anything weird?”

“What?” Annabeth asked, clearly surprised, and laughed. “I don’t… I don’t think so? I’m not entirely sure what would qualify as weird. He didn’t do anything I didn’t like. In fact, he did several things I definitely liked.”

“Like what?” Piper asked, excited by the prospect of gratuitous details.

Annabeth shook her head. “You’ve already used up your questions.”

“Just this one more? It’s basically an extension of question five,” Piper asked, pouting. Her most pitiful expressions had never worked on Annabeth in the past, but she hoped this once might be the exception.

To Piper’s dismay, there was no exception made. “I already gave you an extra. You’re all out.”

“Party pooper.” Piper pushed Annabeth away. She took her letter in hand and rose to her feet. “I’m going to go take a shower since you’re being a total scrooge. At least I have our blackmail induced double date to look forward to.”

Annabeth was clearly entertained by Piper’s reaction, pulling her blanket more tightly around herself as she remained on the floor, watching Piper huff and walk toward the door. “Hey Piper!” she called, wearing a wide smile and looking like she was about to laugh. “He was very, very attentive to my breasts. Even after, and when we were falling asleep last night, he couldn’t stop touching them. And just staring at them. It was cute.”

“That honestly doesn’t surprise me about him,” Piper replied, and this time it was her turn to roll her eyes.

The tidbit of information really did go a long way to make her happy, though. Over the years she’d shared a thousand similar details with Annabeth, though not always because Annabeth particularly wanted to hear them. It felt nice to finally be on the other end of the conversation, because being on the other end meant Annabeth was in a good place. The two girls smiled at each other for a handful of seconds, and Piper knew Annabeth had relented just for the sake of pleasing her. She was spoiled.

“Love you,” Piper said.

“Love you, too,” Annabeth replied. “See you in a bit.”


	47. Chapter 47

“We’re not getting in the car until you tell us where we’re going,” Annabeth told Percy and Jason when she and Piper arrived outside the house at their earlier agreed upon time.

Percy, who was leaned against the rental car’s hood and twirling the keys on one finger, shook his head. “No dice. You already agreed.” He wore a green t-shirt that brought out his eyes, black jeans, ripped at the knees (probably from use, not purposefully distressed in the name of fashion), and a light denim jacket. He and Jason – in khaki shorts and a light blue, short sleeved button up – made an almost comical pair with how different they were. Annabeth supposed, though, she and Piper often looked similarly different.

“We agreed to meet you,” Annabeth corrected, standing a little taller and feeling smug. “We never said anything about _going_ anywhere in the car.”

A frown popped onto Percy’s face and he leaned toward Jason. The two of them exchanged a few whispered words and then Percy straightened back up. It was Jason who replied, “You’re right, but we can’t tell you where we’re going. You have to figure it out on your own. We’re willing to make a second deal.”

Annabeth and Piper shared a silent conversation of their own, deciding whether or not to hear out their second offer in a series of subtle expressions. Finally, coming to agreement, Piper looked back at the boys and asked, “What are you offering?”

“We’ll grant you one wish,” Jason replied, though he was looking at Percy like he wasn’t sure this was a good idea – Jason sure did have good instincts. “Anything you want, we’ll do it.”

This must have been important to them if they were willing to chance such an offer. It was definitely risky to open themselves up to _anything_ , especially with someone as wild as Piper involved. Annabeth knew Piper would go extreme. She would take this as a challenge and see how far she could push those poor, naive boys who’d just been stupid enough to offer her _anything_. 

As if she’d heard Annabeth’s thoughts and felt compelled to prove the point, Piper grinned and demanded, “Kiss.”

The guys didn’t know how to respond. Seconds ticked by in stunned silence, Piper clearly not backing down. Finally Percy and Jason looked at each other, appraising each other with a confusion that made Annabeth want to laugh. They hadn’t expected this, although Annabeth wasn’t sure what they might have been anticipating. They didn’t know Piper McLean the way Annabeth did, and even she was a little surprised.

Their offer had been to Annabeth too, though, and they soon looked to her with pleading eyes – sky blue and sea green. They really were a formidable sight, standing together in front of the car, but the only thing in the world Annabeth truly feared was getting in the way of Piper when she was on the war path. Apparently Piper had decided to go to war with their boyfriends, which meant all Annabeth could do was shrug. _Your fault_ , she thought. _You poked the beast_.

Again, Jason and Percy looked at each other. Annabeth could practically hear the silent deliberation. They seemed to debate whether whatever they had planned was really worth it. Maybe, they appeared to think, they’d taken it too far. If they just told the girls where they were going, this could all be avoided. Or, and Annabeth knew without a doubt Percy was thinking it, Piper was bluffing and they could out bluff her. Go for it. She’d call them off at the last second. It’s what he would do. Annabeth almost pitied him for underestimating Piper so wholly.

She stepped closer to Piper and leaned in so they could whisper. Things had escalated to the point they needed actual words and not just wiggled brows and well timed grimaces. “Are you sure about this?”

Piper nodded once. “They won’t do it and then they’ll owe us. It’ll be worth it someday when we want something big from them.”

“I don’t know,” Annabeth said, skeptical. “They kind of look like they might try to call your bluff.”

“It’s not a bluff. I’ll be plenty satisfied if they go through with it,” Piper replied with a shrug. Annabeth, of course, had never thought otherwise, but the boys didn’t seem to be sure. “They’re not really going to try to call it, though. They’re about ten seconds away from chickening out.” 

“You are a terrifying person, Piper McLean,” Annabeth observed, though she was smiling. At least terrifying was on her team, always had been, and always would be. Also, the points Piper made were good and Annabeth did love winning.

Piper beamed as if Annabeth had paid her the highest possible compliment, and in a way she kind of had, then focused back on Jason and Percy. “If you don’t decide soon, I’ll demand tongue, too,” she told them. “Clock’s ticking, boys!”

It never occurred to Annabeth that perhaps she and Piper were the ones underestimating them. It never occurred to Annabeth that if the tables were turned and the boys were challenging her and Piper to kiss, they would do it just to win. It never occurred to Annabeth that the same chaotic synergy she and Piper had thrived on for over a decade could be replicated in Jason and Percy. It never occurred to Annabeth that she had thought more than once in the last couple weeks she and Piper had found people who matched them in wonderfully unprecedented ways.

 _They_ weren’t best friends. _They_ hadn’t been doing this for years. _They_ were only just becoming comfortable with each other at all.

Never again.

Whether they expected Piper to call it off or not Annabeth never knew, but, before her mind could catch up with what her eyes were seeing, Jason raised his brows in acquiescence, Percy shrugged once, and then they did it. 

Four seconds. Annabeth counted them without realizing: one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi, four Mississippi. They kissed for four whole seconds, surprisingly not even particularly stiff or awkward, and definitely kissing. When their four seconds were up (and Annabeth had no idea how they’d somehow silently agreed four seconds was the proper length of time) they pulled back, gave each other curt nods and returned to their previous standing positions as if nothing had happened.

The strangest part was Annabeth was impressed. No, the strangest part was Annabeth was a little turned on – not because she had any deep seeded fantasies that were suddenly being unearthed, but because Percy had been so committed to the victory he’d _kissed Jason_. Unsettling. Weird. Sexy.

Piper was the first one to speak. “D-did we just… lose?”

“Yep,” Annabeth confirmed. “We just lost big time.”

“Time to go,” Percy called to them, a glint of triumph in his eyes. _That_ was definitely hot. He added, mimicking Piper’s voice, “Clock’s ticking, girls!”

Annabeth couldn’t help smiling, giving Piper a quick shrug and then starting toward the car. The look on Piper’s face was absolutely priceless, staring at her own boyfriend like she was seeing him for the first time. Percy gave Annabeth a smirk as he rounded the car to the diver’s side and they both watched with amusement as Piper approach the car in a daze. Jason looked pretty damn pleased with himself for catching her off guard, too.

Soon they were on the road, headed toward whatever it was Jason and Percy had planned. All four of them were silent for several minutes, the atmosphere tense but, for some reason, not at all uncomfortable. None of them thought to turn on the radio, or maybe they were all secretly waiting for someone to break the silence. Annabeth was only barely resisting the urge to burst into laughter and the few times she glanced at Percy, she could tell he was just as close to losing it.

“So,” Piper finally said, slapping her hands on her knees, “how was it?”

That was all Annabeth could take, laughter exploding out of her, only made worse when Percy responded with complete nonchalance, “Honestly? I’ve had worse.”

Even Jason was laughing. “I hate to admit it but, same.”

It was, without a doubt, the hardest Annabeth had ever laughed in her life. She had a feeling it was the same for Piper, who had always laughed her hardest with Annabeth. The few times she could bare to glance at Percy or Jason without dissolving into another hysterical fit, she noticed they both seemed pleased with themselves, content to have made their girlfriends laugh. She also got the impression kissing had, in its own weird way, bonded them, and Annabeth very much liked the idea of her and Piper’s boyfriends bonding.

They drove for a long time, everyone suffering from random fits of giggles off and on. Percy eventually turned the radio on, flipping through until he found a classic rock station that satisfied him. Being distracted meant Annabeth had no idea where they were going. She wasn’t even entirely sure where they were, but based on the amount of time they’d been in the car she could tell they had left Malibu and were heading east into LA. That made sense – aside from the beach and ocean, there wasn’t much to do in Malibu, and they didn’t need to leave the house for beach or ocean.

Piper realized where they were headed before Annabeth did. She appeared between the front seats, looking at Percy then back at Jason. “Shut up,” she told them, and Annabeth recognized the excitement in her voice. It was almost childish in its purity, making Annabeth smile even though she had no idea what it was about. “We’re not going where I think we’re going.”

Annabeth looked back to see a proud grin on Jason’s face, one of his arms resting against the window. “Where do you think we’re going?”

“Are we going to the old zoo?” Piper asked, sitting back in her seat, excitement only mounting in her voice. There was a hint of disbelief in there as well, which Annabeth related to completely.

“What?” Annabeth asked, turning to look at Piper, then Jason and Percy in turn. Now that she was thinking about it, they did seem to be headed in that direction, but she couldn’t imagine why Percy and Jason would think of taking them there. Annabeth herself hadn’t thought about the place in ages.

The old, abandoned LA Zoo was one of the lesser known attractions in LA. Piper and Annabeth had discovered it the summer after eighth grade. It had been one of the few places they could go at that age that appealed equally to both of them – to Piper because she loved the morbidity of walking through the former exhibit spaces and imagining what it would be like to be an animal trapped in the enclosures; to Annabeth for how fascinating she found walking through the man made structures, still standing despite being in disrepair and overgrown with plants. They’d pack a picnic, have Tristan’s driver drop them off, and spend the day wandering around the zoo and surrounding park. As teenagers did, the two finally grew bored with the place. Every once in a while they’d get an urge to go back, though, and find it just as fascinating as they had the day they discovered it.

“It was Grace’s idea,” Percy supplied, pointing at Jason behind him with a thumb.

“Piper has a picture of the two of you there in her room,” Jason explained further. Annabeth wracked her brain to remember, and then an image popped into her mind of a photo they’d had taken for them on one of those long past summer days – Piper and Annabeth cowering in a corner of one of the barred in exhibits, which Annabeth had thought was gruesome but Piper had thought was art. Maybe it would have been, had the middle aged woman who snapped the shot been a little better behind the camera. The shadow of a thumb over half the enclosure kind of ruined it.

Jason continued when the confused expressions Piper and Annabeth wore remained, “It was weird, so I asked Tristan about it, and he told me how much you two used to love going there.”

“We knew you two were out there reliving old memories, so we thought we’d surprise you with another,” Percy concluded. “Or, well, Jason thought. I agreed it was a good idea when he woke me up from my nap to tell me about it.”

“Hey, I probably would have chickened out if you hadn’t agreed,” Jason replied, a rosy hue coloring his cheeks as he tried to pass off a little of the credit.

Piper reached her arms around Annabeth’s seat and gave her a squeeze that was more choking than hugging. “And we made them kiss to get us here,” she whined.

“We?” Annabeth objected, swatting Piper’s hands away. “That was all you.”

“You didn’t stop me,” Piper argued, sitting back. Annabeth rolled her eyes fondly, noting that was the _sixth_ time she’d rolled her eyes at Piper that day.

Both their boyfriends continued to look pleased with themselves despite the absolute fools they’d made of themselves earlier as they made their way up I-5 toward Griffith Park. Annabeth couldn’t blame them. They’d pulled off something impressive in its sheer thoughtfulness. Even if the idea had been Jason’s, they’d done it together, knowing that was the way Annabeth and Piper would love it most.

Not pulling any punches, Percy popped the trunk when they arrived and pulled out a picnic basket. The sun was already close to setting. Technically the park was supposed to close at sunset, which in February unfortunately meant the early evening, but Annabeth knew from experience they could get away with pushing their stay into the twilight hours as long as they weren’t causing any trouble. It was always a little spookier as the sun disappeared and there would be even fewer people around, anyway.

Piper jumped on Jason’s back while they walked, reminding him how much she loved him every ten seconds as he piggybacked her. Piper’s smile refused to be contained and Annabeth couldn’t stop smiling herself at the sight of it. She walked a few paces behind with Percy, carrying the basket between them, thinking how this was a more perfect end to their day than either she or Piper could have ever come up with on their own.

“Thank you,” Annabeth said to Percy, slowing a little so Jason and Piper’s lead widened.

Percy shook his head. “Really, this was all Jason.”

“When someone says ‘thank you,’ it’s polite to reply with ‘you’re welcome,’” Annabeth chastised, teasing. 

It wasn’t just this evening she was thankful for. Percy consistently went out of his way for her, and though Jason had been the one to come up with the plan, even he’d admitted he probably wouldn’t have carried it out without someone to back him up. She felt like she took from Percy more than she gave. Expressing her thanks when he, yet again, did something amazing for her, was the very least she could do.

“Well, if you really want to say thank you, you’ll take one of those creepy pictures with me,” Percy replied, Annabeth very aware he was still avoiding accepting her thanks. “My mom would love it.”

Annabeth’s heart did an unexpected flip. A few times Percy had mentioned his mother in passing. Annabeth had seen a few pictures of the woman (who was, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful people Annabeth had ever seen – and Annabeth had just attended a wedding with a bunch of movie and music stars in attendance the day before, she knew beautiful people) and knew Percy was very close with her, but they hadn’t discussed her in depth yet. 

Again Annabeth felt a little guilty. Percy had met her whole family, knew all their deep, dark secrets, and Annabeth knew next to nothing about his aside from the basics – his mom was named Sally, she’d married a man named Paul, Leo’s foster (and then adoptive) father, when Percy was in high school and shortly after had a baby girl named Estelle. Annabeth wanted desperately to know more, to know the people those names belonged to, and while she was getting to know Leo a little already, she understood Percy not wanting to jump right into introducing a girlfriend to his parents.

“Does she know about me? About us?” Annabeth asked, sneaking a quick glance at him and feeling her heart do a few more of those flips at the sight of his smile.

“’Course she does,” Percy said without hesitation. “She wants to meet you. I just, you know, didn’t want you to feel rushed or anything.”

That was laughable, and Annabeth did laugh. “Percy, you met my entire family on our first date.”

“Yeah, but,” he shrugged, “that was different. Extenuating circumstances.”

For the second time in an hour Annabeth rolled her eyes fondly, though she didn’t count it this time because it was at Percy and not Piper. “It was different. Most of my family sucks, and your parents sound wonderful.”

“Your brothers are pretty cool,” Percy insisted, and Annabeth had to agree. She still hadn’t heard from Matthew or Bobby, but it hadn’t even been a week and Annabeth refused to lose hope she’d be able to salvage a relationship with them.

Before Annabeth could say anything else, Piper called from ahead, “Hurry up, slowpokes! I’m hungry!” 

Piper and Jason had arrived and were seated at the weather worn picnic tables where they planned to have their meal, Piper so close to Jason she was practically in his lap. Annabeth figured Piper would be were there not a family sitting near by. She and Percy didn’t dare need to be told twice, picking up the pace and joining the other two.

It was a small, man made outcropping of sculpted rocks that Annabeth assumed had once been part of an exhibit. Maybe for bears or big cats, she’d always thought, based on the size of the space and the holes carved into the back wall, leading into a cave like area. Now it served as a picnic area, open to the air but somewhat protected from the elements on days when the heat was extreme, and was one of the spots that was still kept up by park staff. Usually there were one or two groups sitting down to eat at a time, but it had never felt overcrowded to Annabeth, even in the peak summer months.

As soon as the picnic basket was on the table, Piper was digging into it. Annabeth wasn’t going to complain about what the guys had packed for them – seriously, it was very thoughtful and complaining would be just plain rude – but she’d had a sandwich for lunch and she hoped there was something a little more filling waiting for them. They didn’t disappoint on the food front either, though.

Obviously Naomi had been involved in the production of their meal, but Annabeth decided not to ask and risk ruining Piper’s mood. First Annabeth noticed containers of small pinwheel wraps, with what looked to come in either turkey, ham or veggie varieties. One container held some kind of potato salad, and next to it was one filled with a greens salad topped with grilled peaches. A generous container of deviled eggs and another of fruit skewers finished out the menu. Percy and Jason had also seen fit to bring along a six-pack of beer. Annabeth offered to drive home so Percy could enjoy a couple beers along with Jason and Piper, too, figuring he’d more than earned it.

She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until they were digging into the food. Annabeth wanted to taste everything and, for at least a little bit, she stuffed her face as shamelessly as everyone else. When she was full, though, the other three weren’t nearly done. For the better part of an hour she watched her companions eat to their hearts’ content, that ridiculous, high calorie diet requiring boyfriend of hers most of all. It was a true testament to the magnificence of the human body (and his hard work) that Percy could put that much food away and remain little more than muscle. 

Every last bite of their small feast consumed, Piper jumped to her feet. “We need to recreate our photo before it gets too dark! These guys can probably take a better picture than that old lady did, too.”

Graffiti marked much of the stonework in the rest of the old zoo. Annabeth had always thought it added to the overall creepy ambiance, though even when she was a kid she could imagine the way her father would complain if he’d seen it. The various tags piled together were works of art in their own rights, and her appreciation for street art had only grown after spending four years in NYC. Often she imagined ways she could incorporate it into her designs. When they got back to the house, Annabeth was going to need to head right for her sketchpad. The whole day had left her feeling especially inspired.

As Piper anticipated, Jason managed to take a much better picture of them than the one they had from years prior. Even though the waning light definitely upped the spook factor, Annabeth didn’t really think the picture was quite as macabre as the one they’d taken as young teens. It would make a nice companion to the old one, though, and Annabeth imagined coming back to this spot periodically to take new ones. Of all the places to return to for photos marking their growth, this seemed like the most Piper and Annabeth.

They took turns posing in various locations and in various combinations, all of their phones serving as camera at one point or another, until the light had completely faded and day turned to night. None of them were particularly eager to call it a day, but they didn’t want to push their luck and end up with a ticket, so they begrudgingly made their way back to the car. Jason carried the basket this time, which left Percy free to slip his arm around Annabeth instead, much to her delight.

“I’m glad you invited me,” Percy said to her, keeping his voice quiet so only Annabeth could hear. “On this trip, I mean.”

Asking him so soon into their relationship should have felt absolutely ridiculous, but she was glad she’d asked him, too. Without him she would have felt like the biggest third wheel in the world, but it was far more than that. She would have simply missed him over the long weekend, and being around him made her feel good.

“I’m glad you came,” she replied, nuzzling her face against his shoulder for a few seconds. The sentiment was inadequate compared to the depth of her feelings, but Percy seemed to understand. And, she secretly hoped, maybe it had been inadequate compared to the depth of his feelings, too.

On the way back to the McLean mansion, Piper and Jason dozed in the backseat, Jason’s head on her shoulder and Piper’s head on his. Annabeth liked stealing glances of them in the rear view mirror. She felt no jealousy they were able to snuggle up back there. Percy sat beside her, alternating between staring out the window and staring at her, their hands joined on the center console between their seats.

This, Annabeth thought, would go down as one of the most perfect days of her life.


	48. Chapter 48

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter contains explicit content.

Piper awoke Saturday morning more in love with Jason than she’d ever been.

The day before had been perfect. He’d surprised her with more than just the outing. She remembered being stunned by the (again, probably empty) threat to steal her and Annabeth’s clothes on the beach. Even if it was a bluff, it was a playful bluff she would never have expected from him. Then, of course, he’d completely thrown her off by his actually kissing Percy when _she’d_ been the one trying to bluff. Jason had always been good natured, with a subtle but wonderful sense of humor. Yesterday, though, she’d discovered a new side of him, a somewhat wild side, and she absolutely loved it.

For quite some time after Piper woke that morning, she laid in bed staring at him. It was rare for her to be the first one to wake, but when they’d arrived back at the house the night before she’d done her damnedest to wear him out. Apparently her hard work had been effective, because he was sleeping like the most beautiful log in history. To be fair, he’d done quite a lot of hard work himself, the sweet soreness she felt all over her body, even just laying in bed beside him, was evidence of that.

Not wanting to disturb him, she resisted the urge to touch him until he began to stir naturally. Only then did she slip a hand over his abdomen, lightly brushing her fingers against his firm, muscled stomach. The hair there was soft and fine, even more blonde than the hair on his head, and she loved playing with it. From the smirk on his face as he slowly returned to consciousness, Piper thought he loved her playing with it, too. Well, based on his smirk and his very prominent erection.

“Good morning,” Piper hummed, her fingers inching lower to brush against his hip bone.

He shifted beneath her, smiling back at her with a bleary eyed, half awake gaze. “Didn’t get enough last night?” he teased, reaching up to brush her hair over one shoulder and trace a finger along her newly exposed neck, sending a shiver down her spine.

“No,” she confirmed, shameless, and to drive the point home, promptly wrapped her hand around his length and leaned in to begin trailing her lips from his shoulder and down his torso. His response to her was slow and groggy, but his hand slipped into her hair and he sighed contentedly as she continued down until her hand was replaced with her mouth.

Piper had plenty of experience going down on guys, but she’d never really enjoyed it. The act was a means to an end, something most guys expected, but thankfully was usually over quickly enough. As with just about everything else, Jason was an exception – at least on the first two points.

The first time Piper had dropped to her knees in front of him, the morning after they’d first made love, Jason had tried to stop her. When she questioned him, he’d said, “You don’t have to. I wouldn’t want to.” Piper had laughed, because at that point Jason had gone down on her a few times and seemed very excited about it. To her surprise, when she assured him she did _want_ to, she’d actually meant it. She wouldn’t say she particularly liked it, but sucking Jason off had been significantly more fun and fulfilling than her past experiences.

That morning was a prime example. After only a few minutes Jason was loud and losing control, his hips jerking up almost violently into her mouth, his hand rough and forceful in the way his fingers pulled at her hair and urged her down. The night they met she’d fantasized about mussing Jason up. Reality was much better than any fantasy, and she watched him closely as her mouth and hand worked in tandem to get him off.

One thing she’d never done before was let a guy cum in her mouth. Jason was allowed that honor.

“I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to how gross that tastes,” he mumbled after, when she’d crawled back up his body to kiss him long and deep. For someone who thought it tasted gross (and honestly, she did agree with him on that point), he sure was anxious to get his tongue back in her mouth. She moaned gently into their kiss, her body slowly melting down against him as his hands roamed, touched every inch of her.

Piper would have spent the entire day like that. Jason really was the first guy she’d ever had in her childhood bedroom, and she wanted to keep him there for the rest of the weekend, claiming him on every surface and in every corner until the room would forever be marked by memories of him, as if he’d belonged there all along. Maybe there would be time for that later, and if not, she’d just bring him back again. And again. Hopefully for the rest of her life.

The rest of her life. Just the thought, that she even considered it a possibility this relationship wouldn’t crash and burn, was enough to terrify her. She caught him smiling at her as he stepped out of the shower, a towel wrapped snugly around his hips and skin glistening, the perfect blend of sweet and sexy, and a little of her fear melted away. Yeah, she could do this for the rest of her life.

They were good. They made their way downstairs before even noon and spent the day being social and talking with Tristan, Naomi and Will – well, mostly with Will. Tristan had to leave early in the day, which didn’t surprise Piper. He always had somewhere to be other than at home and she supposed she took a little comfort in knowing that much wasn’t exclusive to when it had just been the two of them. Naomi disappeared shortly after to do some work of her own and for the first time she saw a small crack in the bright veneer Will Solace projected. He was much closer with his mother than Piper was with her dad, but Piper wondered if he might understand her lifelong loneliness a little better than she’d first thought.

Percy and Annabeth were, of course, always there with them. Piper observed how easy and content the couple were together. They were never far from each other, touching whenever possible in adorable and subtle ways. Piper would never have imagined Annabeth being so affectionate, and while the PDA wasn’t over the top, it was still very apparent. She couldn’t wait for Annabeth to suck it up and admit to being in love, because it was so obvious Piper wanted to scream.

If someone had asked Piper to name the highlight of her Saturday, it would have probably been early that evening, when, as everyone was lazing around the house together, Annabeth pulled out her battered and bruised copy of _Howl’s Moving Castle_ from the time capsule to read. Percy had said, “Hey, isn’t that a movie or something?” and a horrible discovery was made. None of the boys had seen the movie. Will thought he’d maybe seen it once, but couldn’t be sure, and then decided he hadn’t when Annabeth started to describe the premise. Jason had never even heard of it.

Forcing them all to then watch the movie had taken no effort at all, and it had been two hours full of laughter, playful teasing, and an actual candy fight between Jason and Percy. That fight had started when Percy had said, “Turnip Head sounds like something you’d call me,” to Annabeth after the movie’s heroine, Sophie, had coined the name for her scarecrow companion.

Annabeth had looked delighted by the accusation. “Turnip Head _is_ a great name, but you’re more of a… Seaweed Brain.”

“It suits you,” Jason agreed, and so launched the battle which lasted until Annabeth was pegged in the forehead by a Sour Patch Kid. The look she gave them held such venom it was a miracle they hadn’t withered and died right there on the couch.

When Piper and Jason returned to their room that night, she jumped him almost immediately. Just as the night before, they made love until they were both exhausted, and Piper was certain her muscles would be aching again in the morning from all that exertion. 

She was still getting used to thinking of it as _making love_ , but there was no other way to describe it. Sex with Jason was hot, and as he grew more confident the act became increasingly less tender, but no matter how hard his teeth dug into her skin or how roughly he rode her, it still felt fundamentally different to Piper. Her longing was born from a desire for intimacy, not just physical release, and with every breath, touch and moan she was telling him how much she loved him.

After the endlessness of Tristan and Naomi’s wedding day, Piper was surprised to find herself feeling like Sunday had come too soon. Once they returned to New York it would be back to the everyday grind of school, studying and homework. Not having to worry about those things, being so far removed from them, had actually been wonderful.

Will left early Sunday morning, though promised to text Piper when he was settled back home so they could make plans to hang out. Piper was excited by the prospect. She was curious about her new step-brother, and before long they’d be sharing a half-sibling who would clearly need both of their love and support. They’d already made bets on whether it was a brother or sister – Piper wanted a sister and Will wanted a brother, though neither of them were sure why. If Piper had let herself think honestly about it, she would have had to admit she wanted a sister because she hoped she’d already gained a brother in him. It was too early to let herself think _that_ , though.

Awkward hugs and goodbyes were exchanged with the newly married couple after lunch and soon Piper, Jason, Annabeth and Percy were headed back to the airport, too.

“You seem a little off,” Jason quietly observed once they were settled in their seats on the plane. Annabeth was behind them, quietly trying to convince Percy to take some Unisom instead of getting drunk to take the edge off his flight anxiety. Annabeth’s firm and persuasive tone was one Piper recognized all too well, and she knew Percy only had a minute or two before he would have to give in and agree to the sheer sensibility.

Piper shrugged, threading her fingers with Jason’s and pulling their united hands into her lap. “I’m just tired. It’s been a crazy week.”

“Shouldn’t have stayed up so late last night,” he chided playfully. There were signs of fatigue on Jason’s face, too, namely that he’d forgone his contacts for the day and opted instead for his glasses. Often he’d wear them around the apartment, but she rarely saw him wear them for entire days out. She liked when he did, though.

“No, that was a night very well spent,” she replied, feeling smug at the memories, the way she’d had him eating out of the palm of her hand.

“Are you sure there’s nothing on your mind?” he insisted, his eyes narrowed with intent.

The truth was, there were a lot of things on her mind. Some of her thoughts had to do with him, some with Annabeth, some with her dad and new extended family. There were too many of them to sort out. She would be working through her roller coaster of emotions for days to come.

“Just tired,” she repeated. Jason didn’t believe her, she could tell, but he let out a slow breath and nodded. Hopefully that meant he trusted her to talk about it when she was ready.

Unlike their flight out, Piper was awake the entire way back to New York. A few times she tried to take a nap, resting her head on Jason’s shoulder while he read, but her mind refused to take a breather. More than once she wondered if this was how Annabeth always felt, and if that were the case, how the hell her best friend ever got any sleep at all.

Not once while they were in Malibu had her dad made a comment to her about Jason. No approval. No disapproval. Tristan McLean had taken more interest in Percy than his own daughter’s boyfriend, though that wasn’t saying much considering he’d had all of three conversations with Percy over the course of the weekend, which were limited to the topic of his pool. She’d thought he might be excited his daughter had finally brought a man home, have recognized the significance of it, but he’d either been too busy or too distracted to pay her any attention. As much as she hated to admit it, she wanted his approval. Jason _deserved_ his approval, his acknowledgment.

Jason deserved the entire world. She still worried about whether she’d gotten through to him about how much he meant to her. It still made no sense to her that he would think she didn’t desire him in every way humanly possible. They should talk more about it, she knew, but part of her was scared to open that door again, especially when she was still figuring out her own feelings on the matter.

Her thoughts of Annabeth were much more enjoyable, so Piper tried to linger on them as much as possible. Being back in Malibu had felt like taking a step into the past, reminding Piper of all she and Annabeth had been through together over the years, the strength of their bond. Piper’s regard for Percy had grown exponentially, as well, both in respect to his feelings for Annabeth and simple appreciation for his general reliability as a friend. If she had picked someone out for Annabeth herself – and several times over the years she had tried – she wouldn’t have been able to pick someone nearly as good for Annabeth as Percy was.

Fate was clearly a better matchmaker than Piper ever would be, although she did credit herself a little for giving Annabeth much needed nudges in the right direction. Thinking about how conflicted she’d once been about that nudging almost made Piper want to laugh. She still wondered what the details of his past were, but the more time she spent with Percy, the more confident she became whatever had happened all those years ago had been nothing more than a tragic accident.

The last couple months had been a wild ride. As they arrived back in the city and made their way home – Jason and Percy unfortunately saying goodbye for the night, needing to return to their respective places to properly recover – Piper was hopeful they were leaving the worst of the madness behind them. A few months of happiness was hard earned, what they deserved.

Piper’s hope lasted about five minutes after arriving back at her apartment.

She and Annabeth ditched their luggage in their rooms and met back up in the kitchen to talk about what they wanted to order for dinner. There was a small pile of mail on the counter, amassed over the days they’d been away from home. Most of their bills were paid online, and their school generally corresponded digitally as well, so they rarely got anything more than junk mail. Piper wasn’t too worried about it, figuring they could go through it the next morning, but one of the envelopes caught Annabeth’s attention while she was in the middle of a sentence.

“This one doesn’t have a return address,” Annabeth observed, picking the plain white envelope up and flipping it over to see if there was perhaps something written on the back instead. It was addressed to Annabeth in a neat script.

“Do you recognize the handwriting?” Piper asked, leaning over the counter to try and get a good look at it herself.

Annabeth shook her head and popped the envelope open. She pulled two pieces of paper from it, her confusion deepening as she looked at the first one, which Piper almost instantly recognized as a check. The next was a full sized letter. Annabeth unfolded it slowly. Her gray eyes scanned the paper and confusion turned to what Piper could only describe as panic. Piper watched Annabeth read and reread whatever it said, her breathing becoming uneven and her eyes becoming ever more stormy with each quick scan.

“Annabeth,” Piper finally said, trying to keep her voice even and calming, sensing something was very wrong with her best friend, “what is it? Who’s it from?”

Annabeth dropped the letter and check to the counter, looking at Piper with mouth hung agape. “It’s from my mom.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wrote up an entire chapter-length scene of these dorks watching howl's moving castle, because i'm also a dork! it's over on [conversations](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24710860/chapters/63058462) now!


	49. Chapter 49

Annabeth stared at the check and short note sitting on her desk, convinced they were going to grow legs and arms and attack her.

Twenty-two years. Annabeth hadn’t heard a word from her mother in twenty-two years. More than once she’d wondered if the woman was even alive. She wasn’t sure her father would have even known, and he certainly wouldn’t have cared or thought to tell Annabeth if he’d ever heard from or about her mother. It was very possible the woman could have died and Annabeth would never have been the wiser.

She didn’t even know the woman’s name. Annabeth had tried to get her birth certificate to find it when she was twenty, only to discover the original document had been sealed and replaced by one that listed her step-mother after Fredrick Chase had been married. She could have tried to get a court order to unseal it, but for that she would have needed a lawyer and lawyers cost money and Annabeth got her money from her father who would never have agreed to paying. After that, she’d given up hope.

Now she sat staring at hard evidence of her mother’s existence for the first time in her life. A five thousand dollar cashier’s check – no name on it or the envelope – and two neatly written sentences.

_I heard your father cut you off. Hopefully this helps. Mom._

Nothing else. No apology for twenty two years of absence. No question of _why_ Fredrick had cut Annabeth off. Ten useless words and an identifier that might as well have been a lie. This woman was no one to Annabeth. Literally. She didn’t even know the woman’s name.

The night before Annabeth had said she was going to rip the check up. Piper had, for once, been the rational one. Tearing the check up wouldn’t do any good. A cashier’s check meant her mother had already paid the money. If Annabeth never claimed it, the bank would just keep it forever. And, Piper reminded her gently, trying so obviously hard not to bruise Annabeth’s ego, the money would save her from having to work through her last semester of college. It was probably more than she’d be able to make working part time at minimum wage, too. 

Going from depending on one absent parent to another didn’t really make much of a difference, Annabeth figured in the end. At least this absent parent didn’t expect anything from her in return.

Her day since had passed in an anxious blur, Annabeth distracted and stuck in her thoughts. Percy had heard about the letter almost immediately after she’d opened it, so he was understanding of her being completely out of it and skillfully deflected questions of concern from Frank, Hazel and Leo after class and during lunch. Honestly, she was beginning to worry the three of them thought she unstable, considering how often she’d been zoned out the last couple weeks. Maybe she was.

Countless questions threatened to make Annabeth’s head explode, though, primarily how her mother had heard Fredrick had cut Annabeth off at all. Annabeth hadn’t told anyone other than Piper, Percy and Jason. Tristan McLean knew, of course. Maybe he had made a few well placed comments that somehow led to Annabeth’s mother. That must have been it, was the only explanation she could think of, but then she was left wondering what chain of people connected her mother and Tristan, and why this was the first time that chain had resulted in contact.

“He didn’t tell anyone. I asked,” Piper said, startling Annabeth out of her own thoughts. She stood in the doorway to Annabeth’s room, her arms and legs crossed as she leaned against the frame. It would have been unsettling were it anyone but Piper so easily reading Annabeth’s thoughts. Instead of wondering how Piper knew, Annabeth just nodded.

“She must do pretty well for herself, if she has five grand to spare on such short notice,” Annabeth observed, picking up the check and looking at as if she might be able to will it out of existence so she could just forget about the whole mess and all the complications to her life it created. “You were right last night, though. There’s no sense in me not accepting it. Once I’m working, after graduation, I can try to find her, pay her back.”

Piper nodded, her eyes full of concern. “Jason said he might be able to help you find her.”

That caught Annabeth’s full attention and she set the paradigm altering slip of paper back on her desk. “What? How?”

“His dad basically owns the media and all the things that go along with it,” Piper replied, with a shrug. “Jason said he’s willing to try making a few calls to family friends or whatever, ask a few carefully directed questions, see if he can’t find anything out. Your dad _is_ kind of a public figure at this point. There are no secrets for people like that, not really. It’s your call.”

Annabeth nodded. “I’ll think about it.”

It looked like she wanted to say more, but Piper sighed, nodded again in return, and then disappeared back into the living room, leaving Annabeth alone with those two taunting slips of paper. There was too much to think about, even for Annabeth. After weeks of struggling and facing her fears, fighting to break free of the chains that had held her down for so long, Annabeth was beginning to feel like all of it was useless. There would always be something else, something new designed to break her all over again.

Just like her day at school, Annabeth’s evening went by in an uncomfortable haze, where time ceased to exist and nothing felt quite real aside from her own daunting thoughts. Despite it only being just past eight, she’d already cleaned herself up and changed into pajamas to settle herself into bed for the night. She was supposed to be studying, but she’d read the same paragraph at least five times and had barely even registered what it was supposed to be talking about. On the sixth attempt she let out a groan and tossed her book aside in frustration.

“That bad, huh?” Percy asked, startling her. She hadn’t even heard him come in, though she’d known he would be finishing up his nightly training session about that time and was supposed to be expecting him. It looked like he’d been there for a few minutes, though – he’d already dropped his backpack beside her bed and was in the midst of getting changed. The mess her mind was in had to be bad if she not only hadn’t heard him come in, but hadn’t even noticed him standing in the middle of her room half naked.

“Hey,” Annabeth replied, sinking lower into her bed, deflating.

Percy paused, his brow furrowing with concern as he tugged a baggy old Goode Swimming hoodie over his head. “Was it okay that Piper let me in?”

“Of course,” she assured him, though it was hard to put any conviction behind her words with how miserable she felt. “I just lost track of time, I’m sorry.”

“You’ve been out of it all day,” he observed, the line between his brows not relaxing, and he took a seat on the edge of the bed beside her. Annabeth nodded, and he continued, “I remember you got like this that day after your dad had visited, too.”

The memory of that day would usually make her smile, but at the moment it barely penetrated her misery. “It’s just kind of how I deal with things when I’m stressed,” she told him with a shrug.

From the look on his face, Annabeth could tell he was gearing up to say something he wasn’t sure she’d like. She steeled herself for whatever was coming. Finally, he took a deep breath and said, “It’s been a rough month for you, and you’ve been carrying a lot around without even talking to your friends about it for a long time. Between everything that’s happened with your family, with Luke, now this thing with your mom… that’s a lot for anyone to deal with.”

“I’ll be fine once I sort through it,” Annabeth insisted, though as she said the words she realized she was trying to convince herself as much as Percy. Even if she managed to sort through it, she’d probably just end up back to her status quo. Annabeth’s status quo hadn’t been _fine_ for years, if ever.

“Sure, sure,” he conceded, though the furrow of his brow deepened. “But have you ever thought of talking to someone about it? Like, professionally?”

Caught off guard, Annabeth winkled her nose and replied, “What, like a shrink?”

“Yeah,” Percy replied, not bothered by her distasteful display. It actually made the concern on his face ease a little, a smile pulling at his lips. “A counselor, therapist or psychologist. The school has a lot of great resources for students. You know I’m always here for you, and, while I wouldn’t exactly want to speak for them, I’m pretty positive Piper and Jason are, too. Talking to a professional, though, someone who’s not biased and who’s properly equipped to help, can make a big difference.”

“I don’t know, Percy, that seems…” Annabeth faltered, not sure what she wanted to say. Dramatic, maybe, extreme, although just earlier in the day she herself had wondered if maybe she was unstable. Still, going to therapy seemed a little drastic. She’d gotten by well enough up until then without resorting to professional interventions.

Gotten by all but alone, refusing to date for years, closing herself off, running away from her childhood home, shutting out her half-brothers until it was too late, only managing to get through a panic attack because _Percy_ had been there. Percy, who was a psychology major. Percy, who probably knew what he was talking about a lot better than she did. Percy, who was clearly worried about her.

“I saw someone for a long time,” he told her, reaching out to take her hand. 

“You did?” Annabeth wasn’t sure why it surprised her so much, but it was hard for her to picture Percy laid down on some couch, pouring out his feelings to a middle aged guy in a sweater vest.

He must have understood her confusion, because the rest of the concern in his expression faded, replaced by a full smile. “After… after what happened with Bianca, and through most of high school. I had a lot of guilt, and a lot of anger, and a lot of other stuff. I was pretty messed up.”

Annabeth looked at their hands, turning his over in hers and tracing the lines on his palm. “Why did you stop?”

“The doc and I talked about it, and again with my mom, since I was still in high school at the time, and we agreed I’d made enough progress that I wouldn’t get anything else out of it,” he answered, his voice a little distant. “Sometimes that happens. You deal with what you need to deal with, learn coping mechanisms, and then you’re ready to move on. Going to therapy doesn’t have to be a life long commitment.”

“Is that why you decided to study psychology?” she asked, turning her gaze back to him. The topic hadn’t come up, but Annabeth had been curious about it since he’d told them his major in her first swim class.

“Part of it,” he confirmed, his smile turning sheepish, shy in the way it always did when he was the focus of conversation. “I’ve also thought about going into social work, but I’m still not entirely sure what I’m going to do after graduating – if I’m going to try to get a job, look into graduate school, or…”

“Or swim,” she finished for him, giving his hand a squeeze.

He ducked his head a little, but he nodded. “I could maybe make a career out of it if I wanted to, but we’ll see after this summer.”

“I can’t imagine not having a plan,” she said with a sigh, tilting her head as she gazed at him. Percy really was still an enigma to her. Annabeth wouldn’t know what to do with herself if she didn’t have a clear path plotted out ahead of her, but he seemed so relaxed even though they were just months away from graduating and he still wasn’t sure what he wanted to do after the summer. In a way she envied him, wished she was capable of letting go just a little.

“You changed the subject,” Percy pointed out, though he thankfully seemed more amused than upset. Hopefully he understood that she hadn’t actually done it on purpose.

Annabeth did her best to seem playful, rolling her eyes. “Sorry for taking an interest in my boyfriend’s life.”

“Don’t distract me with that word,” Percy teased back, taking that as his cue to climb further onto the bed and kiss her. Some of the tension that had been building in her seemed to fade momentarily as his lips moved against hers, slow and sweet, not demanding, not trying to ignite anything more intense.

“What word?” she asked, grinning when he pulled away. It had definitely not been her intention to inspire a kiss, but she had no complaints.

Percy was grinning, too. “Boyfriend.” 

“I’ve used it before,” she told him, giving his shoulder a little shove once he had settled himself down beside her again.

“Yeah, but it still makes me stupidly happy when you say it,” he replied with a shrug.

This time when she rolled her eyes, she wasn’t trying to be playful. It came to her naturally. _Seaweed Brain_ , she’d called him teasingly on Saturday, but she really did wonder sometimes if his brain had been turned to kelp from spending so much time in the water over the years. “Well, since it means so much to my _boyfriend_ , I’ll look into finding someone to talk to. I’m not sure if I’m really a therapy person, but I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to try. Making use of my resources is probably the smart thing to do.”

“Really?” he asked, though the grin he wore was quickly morphing into a full blown smile. It wasn’t fair how powerful his smile remained over her, making warmth bloom in her chest and slowly spread through all her extremities.

“Really,” she confirmed, surprised by her own confidence. When his smile broadened further still and his eyes slowly began to take on an unfamiliar intensity, Annabeth followed up her confirmation with, “What?”

Percy shook his head, “Nothing.”

“It’s definitely something,” she insisted, reaching out to brush her fingers against his face, her heart feeling like it might burst at any second from the force behind those eyes.

Again, Percy shook his head, but instead of replying he leaned in and kissed her. This time he didn’t pull away after a few sweet seconds, and even though Annabeth knew she was still a little bit of a mess, she didn’t feel guilty letting herself get lost in his lips and the warmth of his body against hers. There were a lot of things she needed to sort through, yes, but she found herself surprisingly relieved at the prospect of someone _helping_ her sort through them.

For once, her thoughts could wait.


	50. Chapter 50

Piper had lived her life with just Annabeth for so long the sudden addition of not one, but two, new people regularly in the apartment in such a short period was, admittedly, a shock.

After Piper had needed to let Percy in on Monday evening because Annabeth had been zoned out, they’d decided to just give him his own key. Jason had one. Percy having one too just made sense. Like that, the two guys were free to come and go as they pleased, more or less. While it was great to have them around, it also came with a bit of a learning curve and a laundry list of new and unexpected circumstances.

For instance, suddenly there was a bunch more food in the fridge than there had ever been. That was mostly a Percy thing. He ate a lot, which meant he needed a lot of food on hand. Piper respected that he supplied it himself, rather than just being a slouch who ate what was already there, and even when he did eat something he hadn’t supplied himself, he replaced it as soon as possible. For a generally goofy guy, he had pretty great manners.

Another startling situation arose when she’d woken up Tuesday morning needing to pee like nobody’s business only to discover Jason was in her bathroom while Percy was taking a shower in Annabeth’s. Piper had wanted to scream. If it had been Annabeth in Annabeth’s bathroom, that would have been fine, and maybe in a few months she wouldn’t mind using the toilet while Jason was showering or brushing his teeth, but they weren’t there yet. Thankfully Jason had finished up quick and she had not died from a burst bladder. Still, it was something she’d never experienced before, needing a bathroom and having to _wait_ in her own home.

It had also been strange when Piper came home from a late night study group Wednesday night and found Jason and Percy sitting on the couch together, beers in hand and a bag of chips between them, watching a basketball game. Just the two of them, naturally, comfortably, like they had always belonged both on that couch and hanging out together and had not been barely on speaking terms the week before. When Piper had headed down the hall to drop off her things, she’d discovered Annabeth was home too, studying in the peace and quiet of her room. The boys really were just spending time there together.

Quite possibly weirdest of all, the four of them fell into these new routines like it was nothing, over the course of less than a single week.

Thursday night was when that reality hit Piper full force.

Percy had just gotten in from his nightly training session and was sprawled out on the couch resting, his head in Annabeth’s lap while she read. Piper was on the floor, an array of pictures spread out around her as she tried to select the best images for a presentation she’d have to give the following Monday. Jason was seated in an armchair with his laptop, the clack of his fingers on keys the only real sound in the room.

Piper found Percy’s dedication awe inspiring – in order to work around his class schedule, he had to get up at unnaturally early hours and stay at the pool or weight room late into the evening. As soon as Percy had arrived that night he had inhaled three cups of Greek yogurt before collapsing on the couch with Annabeth. The cups were sitting on the coffee table, abandoned until the next time he got up. He was looking at them pointedly, as if willing wind spirits to come carry them away for him, when he asked, “Why don’t you have a housekeeper?”

In just the short time since he and Annabeth had started dating, it had become clear Percy was a distinctly messy person. Piper had wondered if Annabeth would let his messiness slide in the beginning of their relationship, as people often avoided conflict in those delicate first weeks and months. There were a few of Jason’s habits Piper had been letting slide – like how that very morning he had left barely a single mouthful of milk in the fridge instead of just finishing it off and rinsing the carton himself. It was fine. It was no big deal. Piper definitely wasn’t still stewing over it.

Not Annabeth, though. The first time Percy had left an empty fast food bag on the coffee table, Annabeth had groaned audibly in frustration and hollered for him to come clean it up. Their ensuing argument, if it could even be called that, had lasted about thirty words and ended in a repentant Percy tossing his bag as requested and a pacified Annabeth pulling him in for a kiss. It was like they’d been doing it for years instead of just a couple weeks, natural and sweet.

There on the couch, Annabeth looked at Percy and let out a sigh, like she was wondering how he had ever managed to survive on his own. “Because we’re perfectly capable of keeping this place clean ourselves.”

“Yeah, but you order like all your meals in or go out to eat them,” he objected, his brow beginning to furrow.

“What does that have to do with a housekeeper?” she asked.

Percy said the words slowly, as if he were trying to lead Annabeth to a very logical conclusion, “Aren’t you perfectly capable of cooking your own meals, too?”

It was then Jason decided to bark a laugh and Annabeth, Piper and Percy all looked at him. For a few seconds he seemed to be scared to say anything – probably because of the way Annabeth and Piper were both suddenly glaring at him – but then he grinned and told Percy, “No. No, they’re not.”

“Wait, really?” Percy asked, instantly sitting up and looking around the room at all three of the others in turn. “Like not at all?”

“My first week dating Piper I watched them both burn themselves trying to make a single grilled cheese sandwich,” Jason informed him.

This seemed to surprise Percy about Annabeth most of all, which Piper decided to not be offended by, as he turned to stare at her in disbelief. “Really? Grilled cheese is like the easiest thing to make.”

“It was frightening,” Jason said by way of agreement, looking awfully pleased with himself to be sharing that information.

There were several things Piper wanted to say in their defense, mostly that Annabeth had burned herself _first_ and the only reason Piper had also ended up burned was because she’d come running to the rescue and been too distracted with worry over Annabeth’s burn to consider the pan was hot. Instead of trying to make excuses, though, she just stared Jason down. She couldn’t believe her boyfriend had just sold her out to his new buddy at the first opportunity. Jason Grace was a traitor.

Seemingly unbothered by the topic of conversation, Annabeth shrugged and said, “We lived in dorms until we were almost nineteen. Between that and both of us having parents that were hardly around, there wasn’t really an opportunity to learn how to make anything outside of a microwave. We just don’t really have practice.”

“You didn’t take like Home Ec or anything at that fancy boarding school of yours?” he asked, still refusing to believe what he was hearing.

A shadow crossed over Annabeth’s face and Piper had to press her lips closed tight to smother a laugh. “I don’t want to talk about it,” Annabeth answered.

“Annabeth Chase,” Percy said, turning playfully somber, “did you flunk Home Ec?”

“I did not _flunk_ ,” Annabeth snapped back, all her nonchalance from moments before dissolving. They had just stumbled upon the darkest secret of Annabeth’s academic career and finally Piper had someone to appreciate it just as much as she did.

“She did set her kitchen on fire, though,” Piper told Percy with a grin. Getting pegged by the book Annabeth threw at her was totally worth it. Okay, maybe she was a traitor, too. Jason could be forgiven for throwing them under the bus, at least this time.

Absolutely delighted, Percy asked, “She set the kitchen on fire and they didn’t flunk her?”

“After, she was only allowed to do book work and observe everyone else in the kitchens, so she managed to scrape by on that and exam scores alone,” Piper explained, remembering the semester and class very fondly. It was the only time Piper ever managed to get the better grade in a class they shared.

Her arms crossed over her chest and the grumpy expression that was her closest approximation of a pout on her face, Annabeth looked at Piper and asked flatly, “Should we talk about how you managed to pass Home Ec, then?”

“Oh, I think we should,” Jason answered before Piper could object.

“Piper made out with her kitchen partner so he’d do all the work for her,” Annabeth told him without hesitation, making Jason’s eyes go wide and Percy burst into laughter.

When Piper decided to launch Annabeth’s book back at her in retaliation, it was easily caught midair, doing no damage. “That’s not what happened!” Piper cried, but she was laughing, a little embarrassed but not upset.

“Then what happened?” Jason asked, his eyes shining with amusement, wearing a wide smile.

“I made out with him because I wanted to make out with him,” Piper explained, making sure to glare at Annabeth as she did so. “It was just a bonus that making out made him want to do all our homework so we could be done quicker and make out more. It also made him eager to do all the kitchen work so I’d be in a better mood after class for even more making out later.”

“Can’t say I blame him there. I’d do all your homework if it meant making out more, too,” Jason replied with a shrug and she loved him more than ever for those playful words and the teasing lilt in his voice. 

A lesser guy may have been jealous, bristled at such a reference to his girlfriend’s past flings, made her feel bad for it. Past boyfriends had done those very things to her often. Not Jason, though. Someday she might manage to work up the courage to ask him why her past seemed so inconsequential to him, but at the moment the idea of poking at that can of worms was too scary, her nerves still a little frayed from the conversation they’d had in Malibu. Just knowing it didn’t bother him was enough for the time being.

Percy swung his head around to look at Annabeth who, at least, seemed to have overcome her grumpiness at being exposed. “Would you have done my homework to make out with me more?”

“No,” she said, and Piper had a feeling the way Percy pouted in response was exactly the reaction Annabeth was going for, because only then did she continue, “I would have used making out as incentive to get you to do it yourself.”

“That’s actually kind of hot,” Percy replied, his brow furrowing, as if even he was surprised he thought so. “Let’s put a pin in that for when we get closer to finals.”

Annabeth smacked him lightly on the chest with her book, but he didn’t even flinch.

Before long Percy settled back down on the couch and the other three returned to their work. They spent the whole night like that, sharing random stories and teasing each other between trying to do their respective schoolwork. It wasn’t forced or awkward, the lulls in conversation comfortable, the topics they discussed coming to mind naturally. Eventually they gave up on the work and Piper climbed into Jason’s chair with him so they could just talk and laugh, until it was past midnight and Annabeth insisted that she and Percy needed to get some sleep before their class in the morning.

When the two of them were alone together in the living room, Piper nuzzled her face into Jason’s neck, brushing her lips against his skin, feeling the vibrations of his responding contented hum. “I’m glad you feel so comfortable here, you know, and that you and Percy seem to be getting along.”

For several minutes Jason didn’t reply, though his arms held her a little tighter, making Piper wonder what was going through his mind. She was never one who thought mind reading would be a fun superpower, but in the last week she’d wished she had some kind of machine that she could flip on and off just to give her a little insight into that beautiful, strange and confusing mind of his in moments like this. With every passing day, she understood more clearly just how difficult it was for him to open up.

“I kind of feel like he gets me,” Jason finally replied, a hint of confusion in his voice.

“What makes you say that?” she asked, lifting her head to look at him.

As his lips set into a thoughtful scowl, Piper ran her fingers through his hair, watching the gears in his mind turn yet again. She wondered if he’d always had to think so intently before he spoke, if it was just his nature, or if something along the way had made him so careful. Piper was often the opposite, speaking thoughts and feelings to words just as soon as she’d thought or felt them. Back in Malibu he’d told her he considered that a strength and at the time she’d thought he was ridiculous for thinking so. The more she thought about it, though, the more she started to see why it would be so appealing to him. Probably his difficulty expressing himself was even more frustrating for Jason than it was for her.

“I’m not entirely sure,” he answered, and at least he had the decency to look a little sheepish for taking so long to come up with that non-answer. It made Piper smile all the same. Despite not really being an explanation, he was at least being honest.

She kissed him, gentle, sweet, and when she pulled away he was smiling. “Let’s go to bed,” Piper said, running both her hands through his hair a few more times.

“Can we make out when we get there?” he asked, leaning in so he could give her another light peck on the lips.

“We can do more than make out when we get there,” Piper replied, pleased at the way he pulled her a little closer in response, “and I won’t even make you do my homework.”

Jason’s full and vibrant laugh made her heart feel like it was going to grow so big it would burst out of her chest. One truly positive thing that had come out of their trip to Malibu was the difference in the way Jason laughed – it was always a little louder, less restrained, and she wanted to hear it constantly. Like she was as light as a feather, he got to his feet with her still in his arms and wasted no time in carrying her back to her room.

Which brought Piper to yet another strange circumstance of their new arrangement – the small part of her mind that couldn’t help wondering, while she stripped Jason down, if Annabeth and Percy were doing the same thing across the hall. That was something she would definitely never put to words. It also didn’t stop her.


	51. Chapter 51

Annabeth wasn’t sure why she was so nervous about going to Percy’s swim meet, but she was.

When they’d made plans to attend, Annabeth had figured it would just be her and Piper along with Hazel and Leo. Then Piper had mentioned it to Jason and he’d gotten a little excited about the prospect, and over lunch during the week the topic had come up and Frank was invited to come along to make it a proper party. Percy’s parents and little sister were out of town for the weekend, so she knew he was excited to have such a crowd showing up in his honor, even though he’d tried to insist the meet was no big deal and that there was no need for everybody to give up their Saturdays for it. It was his last meet in the city, like hell were his friends going to miss it, Annabeth especially.

The night before he hadn’t slept over, needing a good night’s rest in his own bed before competition, so she was already missing him by the time she and Piper arrived at the athletic center Saturday afternoon to meet their friends. Her mood, in general, was better than it had been at the start of the week. Annabeth had decided to take Percy’s advice on finding a therapist of some kind and, as a result, was doing her best to put aside the anxiety she was struggling with in favor of just enjoying life. Good things were happening. A woman who was only her mother in the most literal and technical sense was not going to be given the power to complete derail Annabeth’s life so easily.

Everyone was decked out in purple and white Violet’s gear to show their school spirit, Hazel and Leo even going to the extreme of painting their faces. Jason and Frank had arrived already and the four of them were chatting, though it looked to Annabeth like most of the conversation was really just Leo talking at the other three. Quick introductions were made for Piper, and then they made their way inside to the pool.

Three other schools were competing in the meet – Amherst, Emory, and the top team in the division that year, Johns Hopkins. NYU was having a rough swim year, Annabeth knew. They had a few really strong swimmers, like Percy, but overall the team just didn’t stack up to most of the division. College swimming was all about the team as a whole, not just individual performances. Annabeth genuinely hoped the whole team did well, especially because she knew it was important to Percy, but she wasn’t holding her breath.

As they arrived at the pool, the teams were already starting to assemble and spectators had begun to fill the bleachers. There was a lot of violet and white, since NYU was hosting, but there was an impressive showing for the other schools competing, too. Hazel and Leo took the lead selecting seats, seeming to know some of the others who’d showed up to cheer on the team, and the group settled in two rows of three – Leo, Hazel and Frank in front and Annabeth, Piper and Jason behind.

“Mom and Dad said they’re sorry they can’t make it, by the way,” Leo told the group, looking at his phone as they sat and waited for the meet to get underway.

Hazel turned around and put her hand on Annabeth’s. “They were really bummed they had to miss meeting you,” she said, flashing a frown to go with the sentiment. Her hair was tied into two braids and she looked all kinds of adorable in the cropped NYU crew neck sweater she was wearing over a purple tank top. Considering Frank kept glancing at Hazel about every ten seconds, Annabeth had a feeling she wasn’t the only one who thought so. He was so endearingly obvious.

“I’ll catch them next time,” Annabeth assured Hazel, though the idea made her stomach do a few nervous tumbles and there wouldn’t really be a next time, considering the division championship was Percy’s next and last event and it was out of town. Annabeth would not be attending that meet. Percy had already said the idea of her missing class for it made him uncomfortable, even though he had missed class for _her_ the week before. Part of her still wanted to fight him on it, but she’d decided to accept his request she stay behind. It was important and she didn’t want to distract him by making him worry needlessly about a couple missed classes.

Thinking about Percy made her eyes turn to the mass of swimmers who were already congregating by the pool. Annabeth didn’t see him, but she did see Coach Hedge. Shorter than every other person around the pool, he was wandering through the NYU swimmers and giving them all what looked to be stern instructions and encouragement. Some of the younger swimmers inexplicably looked scared of him. According to Percy, Hedge was all bark and no bite, but she guessed it usually took a little time to learn as much.

That was when Annabeth spotted him, just walking out of the locker room. Percy was in his swim trunks and a purple zippered New York University hoodie. A few of his teammates greeted him as he approached, but after a quick hello to them, his eyes turned to the bleachers. Leo hollered, “Hey, Dipstick!” and then Percy was smiling from ear to ear and waving at them, making Annabeth’s heart take flight.

“Never tell him I said this, but he looks kind of cool,” Jason said under his breath. Kind of cool was an understatement. He looked amazing, his face alight with the excitement of competition, completely at ease. Just standing there beside it, Percy’s demeanor and confidence made it seem as if he owned the pool. That was his turf, everyone else just a guest.

In the minutes before the meet started the group on the bleachers chatted casually, but Annabeth was only half paying attention to the conversation. Instead she watched as Percy talked with Coach Hedge, joked around with his teammates, and said hello to a few of the swimmers from the other teams. He was natural in the midst of all those people, smiling and laughing easily, unable to stay still as adrenaline undoubtedly coursed through his veins. It warmed her heart to see him like that, in his element, excited, passionate.

She was jarred from her thoughts by Leo asking, “Is it weird, Annabeth?”

“Huh?” she asked in return, blinking at him a few times and realizing the rest of the group had all turned to look at her. “Is what weird?”

Piper laughed, giving Annabeth a gentle shove. “Were you too busy checking Percy out to even listen?”

“I wasn’t _checking him out_ ,” she objected, but that wasn’t entirely true. Annabeth had been admiring how great his ass looked in his shorts, among the many other, more innocent, things that had been going through her mind. It wasn’t her fault he was so innately easy to check out. It also wasn’t her fault she now knew exactly what that wonderfully sculpted ass looked like when he took those shorts off, exactly how firm it felt when she squeezed it, and it was, therefore, that much more distracting.

“Uh huh,” Piper replied, unconvinced, probably because Annabeth’s face was heating up and exposing her.

Leo was undeterred, though, deciding the answer to his question was too important to be distracted from by such an obvious opportunity to tease. “I was asking if it’s weird since he shaves everything, you know, no hair and all that,” he explained.

A little more heat crept up on Annabeth’s face. “I haven’t really thought about it,” she answered, which was true. His lack of body hair hadn’t really crossed her mind. Sometimes, in the days between shaves, she’d noticed his skin get a little prickly, but it didn’t seem to matter when he was so delightful to touch.

“Don’t mind him, he’s just jealous Percy has any body hair to shave to begin with,” Hazel told Annabeth, rolling her eyes.

“I have body hair!” Leo was quick to object. He held up one of his arms and said, “Hair!” Then he pulled up his shirt, pointed and said, “Hair!”

Frank leaned forward to look at Leo more closely around Hazel. “Where?”

Getting worked up, Leo grabbed Frank’s hand and put it on his stomach. “Right there,” he said confidently, even as Frank’s nose wrinkled and he snapped his hand back.

“Don’t make people feel your hair, Leo. Gross,” Hazel chided, smacking Leo on the arm.

“There was nothing to feel, don’t worry,” Frank replied, the corners of his lips quirking up in a playful smile. The two of them proceeded to start tossing jabs back and forth, making Hazel heave a heavy sigh. Annabeth watched them with a barely contained smile. 

Jason leaned in, whispering just loud enough for only Piper and Annabeth to hear, “Is Frank always like this with you guys?”

“He’s a little more lively today than usual, but yes,” Annabeth confirmed in a matching whisper.

“Huh,” Jason said, looking both surprised and impressed. She wanted to ask him more about it, and Piper looked like she wanted the same, but whispering right where Frank could hear wasn’t the best idea. Anyway, the meet was just starting up and Annabeth wanted to at least try to be focused.

As the first race got underway, Percy moved off to the side with his teammates and the other swimmers to cheer on whoever was in the pool. Annabeth noticed a couple of guys from the other teams made their way over to him, striking up a conversation as they waited for their respective events. They were familiar to her, though she’d of course never met them herself.

“The one to his right there is a freestyle sprinter, shorter races than Percy,” she leaned in to explain quietly to Piper, her nervous energy needing an outlet. Spewing random facts was always a soothing pastime. “He was on the Olympic team four years ago, still in high school back then. The one on his left has taken first in backstroke nationally the last few years. If all goes well, they’ll probably be going to Rome together this summer.”

“Have you learned the name and accomplishments of every single swimmer in the country?” Piper asked, and Annabeth couldn’t quite tell if she was teasing or actually curious.

Regardless, the answer was the same, and Annabeth proudly replied, “The ones who are probably going to be on Team USA with him, yes. And Percy’s direct competition from other countries, of course.”

“Of course. When exactly did you have time to research all this?” There was a hint of awe in Piper’s voice that only served to stroke Annabeth’s ego.

“Just here and there when I was bored,” Annabeth answered with a shrug. It had felt like the natural thing to do, looking into the people Percy would be swimming with and against, so she would be prepared if and when she met them.

Most events went by relatively quickly, short races that topped out at a minute or two each. Between heats, Jason and Frank asked questions about scoring. Each time the issue came up, Annabeth watched Piper’s eyes glaze over. More than once that week she’d tried to explain the process of points and team scores to Piper. Each time Piper had tried to pay attention and absorb the information, but it had just gone in one ear and out the other, not because Piper was stupid, just because she really didn’t care. Piper was always willing to listen to Annabeth ramble, but Annabeth had long accepted that didn’t mean Piper would retain any of what was said. Thankfully the guys seemed to absorb information easy enough.

Even though they were all there for Percy, their group cheered for the rest of the NYU team just as loudly. As Annabeth had expected, the team’s overall performance was lackluster, but that didn’t take away from their enjoyment of it all. Watching the races was fun, regardless of who won, and each one just upped her anticipation for the moment Percy would get in the water. She was more excited to see him compete in person than she had realized even just that morning.

Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, a voice came over the speakers to announce Percy’s single event at that meet, the 500 meter freestyle, would be starting. Annabeth had to reach out and snatch Piper’s hand.

It wasn’t just Annabeth who was gripped by anticipation, though. The whole group became a mass of anxious excitement. Every eye was on Percy as he tossed his hoodie aside, carefully tucked his hair into a swim cap and snapped on his goggles. Overhead the muffled voice was announcing the names of each competitor. When it was “Percy Jackson, NYU,” all six of the spectators were on their feet and screaming. Before he climbed on the block, Percy waved at them, the grin he wore boyish and shy in response to the attention, but full of his appreciation for their being there to support him.

Once he was on the block, though, everything about Percy changed.

Despite the distance between them, Annabeth could practically see his eyes darken as he stared down his lane. His whole body coiled, like an animal ready to pounce – and, she supposed, in a way he was. For once, even though so much skin was exposed, Annabeth wasn’t ogling him. Her appreciation of his body was something else entirely, not just a ball of untamed lust. Instead her heart pounded with the anticipation of seeing each and every one of those tight, toned muscles put to proper use, of witnessing what a carefully crafted, effective machine his body was.

The whole room fell silent as the swimmers waited for their mark and Annabeth didn’t even dare breathe, squeezing Piper’s hand hard as seconds ticked by. If a simple invitational meet between a few colleges felt this intense, she could only imagine how much crazier Olympic Trials would be come June and, even worse, the Olympics after, when all of Percy’s hard work would be put to the final test.

A sharp whistle broke the anticipatory silence and the swimmers shot off their blocks into the water, the crowd breaking into supportive cheers. Annabeth still didn’t know enough about starts to make a proper assessment, but Leo grumbled, “He was a little slow off the block.”

“He was fine. You’re always fussy about his starts,” Hazel replied, her eyes locked on the water as Percy broke the surface and his arms and legs began to propel him forward, slicing through the water with speed and efficiency. Annabeth wondered how many of these meets the two of them had been to over the years, how many of those little details about Percy’s swimming they had become experts on. It was a sweet symbol of their love for him, that they were so invested in his performance.

For the first few laps the group stayed relatively tight. Percy was in the lead, but not by much. Annabeth had watched enough of Percy’s other races to know this wasn’t worrisome. Usually it took a while for big spreads to start appearing, and, while 500 meters was a longer distance, it was short compared to most of Percy’s other events. Still, it made her nervous, and she found herself chewing hard on her bottom lip, squeezing Piper’s hand again and again as Percy finished each lap.

“His form isn’t bad today, though,” Leo observed when they were about ten laps deep – halfway through the race. As if he could tell the others were on edge, not having his experience attending Percy’s meets, he turned to look at them wearing a devilish grin and pride shining in his eyes. “This is where it gets really good.”

Leo was right.

The next time Percy rounded a turn and pushed off the wall, he was almost an entire body length ahead of the next swimmer. His lead continued to gain, too. Annabeth knew the rest of the field were no slouches. They were at the level they were for a reason, some of the best swimmers in the country, but they didn’t stand a chance against Percy. As the others slowed, their stamina taxed, Percy only got faster, until he was an entire lap ahead of the rest. Everyone competing may have been college varsity level, deserving of their spots on their respective teams, but Percy was world class.

Watching him, knowing how much of his life he’d dedicated to his passion in order to get this good, the endless hours swimming lap after lap in the pool, the late nights and early mornings, Annabeth was overwhelmed with adoration.

When Percy’s hand touched the wall at the end of his final lap, their group of six jumped up as one and let out their loudest screams. First thing, Percy ripped off his goggles and turned to look at the leader board to check his time, clinging to the wall and fighting to catch his breath. Coach Hedge was shouting, “Ya did good, punk!” and grinning over the victory.

Percy didn’t look like he’d done well, though. Frowning, he stared at the leader board like it was his worst enemy. “He doesn’t seem too happy,” Annabeth observed as the group settled back down on the bleachers, concern quickly beginning to replace the excitement that had washed over her at his victory.

Hazel turned to explain, “That’s a couple seconds short of his best time for this event. Winning is great, and it’s not a huge deal at a small meet like this, but he likes to at least keep up with his best times. Two seconds is a pretty big split.”

“Percy gets really down on himself when this happens,” Leo added, his eyes catching Hazel’s. “We have our work ahead of us tonight, Haze.”

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” she asked him, her lips turned down into a determined scowl.

“It’s the only way,” Leo replied with a nod.

Frank leaned forward, looking at Leo from around Hazel and asking the question all of the others were undoubtedly thinking, a hint of fear in his voice, “What’s the only way?”

Leo’s lips twisted into a dangerous smile. “Jackson-Blofis tradition – we’re going for karaoke.”


	52. Chapter 52

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i put a [playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6L7TTmQEgJ3v845EhBQmSW?si=QDta-aRmQJSXjqQKCi99xQ) together for this chapter, if you'd like to listen along! huhuhu. ♥

Karaoke was definitely not what Piper had anticipated for her Saturday evening, but the surprise was a very welcome one. Though her relationship with singing was complex, often finding it a painful reminder of her mother, Piper had still always loved doing it. Going out to dance and croon with her friends, even new ones like Hazel and Leo, would always qualify as a great way to spend a night.

Meeting Percy outside the sports center had been an adorable, cinematic moment in which Annabeth had literally thrown herself into his arms and kissed him. Leo and Hazel had been right, though. Even Piper could tell Percy was down in the dumps about his performance in his race that day, as much as he tried to smile and assure them all he was fine. While Piper thought it was a little extreme for him to be so hard on himself considering how epically he had cinched that victory, she did kind of admire him for the reaction. Winning wasn’t what mattered most to Percy – doing his best, pushing his limits did. There was something very admirable in that, to Piper.

Telling him they’d already all agreed to head to karaoke together did cheer Percy up a little, at least.

As expected on a Saturday night, the karaoke joint was busy. The group of seven had decided on a place with private rooms, so that meant waiting around at the bar for a while before one opened up. None of them seemed to mind too much, ordering drinks (non-alcoholic for poor Hazel, who huffed a little in jealousy at the other six as beers and cocktails had been served) and toasting to Percy’s personal victory in his race. No one mentioned the NYU team coming in last overall.

“I’m not singing that song, Piper, it’s so cheesy and lame,” Annabeth complained from her bar stool, her voice dripping with playful annoyance, after Piper had suggested they open up the evening together and set the tone for the others. No matter how much Annabeth objected, though, experience told Piper that once the song was playing, Annabeth would give in.

“You will if I get there and queue it up before you can stop me,” Piper replied, only becoming more excited about the prospect when Annabeth rolled her eyes. It took another ten minutes, but eventually one of the bar staff came over to let them know their room was ready. Piper was quick on her feet, not even stopping to listen to the poor attendant explain how the system worked, intent on getting there first and making sure she got her way.

The small, private room was nice, dimly lit with an optional disco ball that Piper immediately set to working. While the others filed in, drinks in hand, and arrayed themselves on the u-shaped couch lining three of the walls, she was already opening up the catalog and finding the song Annabeth had so readily objected to. Leo grumbled behind her about how long she was taking, but she ignored him.

Piper grabbed two microphones as the guitar strum opening up Taylor Swift’s _22_ began to play over the speakers. One mic she put to her own lips, the other she pointed at Annabeth in a silent challenge. Everyone was watching closely, Jason and Percy looking especially amused by the clear battle of wills playing out. Singing the first lines, Piper kept her eyes on her best friend, watched Annabeth initially shake her head, then roll her eyes again, and finally, as the first chorus came up, jump to her feet and snatch the offered mic out of Piper’s hand. 

Like that, it was on. They sang to each other, not really caring about what their audience was doing, taking turns with their lines, jumping around and dancing. Piper took on the ad-libs at the end, going overboard to the point Annabeth gave up on singing altogether to laugh instead.

With the final note of the song, they wrapped their arms around each other and enjoyed the round of applause their friends gave them. Yes, the song was cheesy and lame, but that was why it was kind of great. Also, they were only ever going to be twenty-two once. At no other time in their lives would they be able to sing that song without being (even more) massive weirdos. Their hug only lasted a few seconds, because Annabeth quickly shoved Piper off with a mumbled, “I can’t believe you made me do that,” as if she hadn’t clearly enjoyed herself to the fullest.

“That was a decent attempt, ladies,” Leo said after they’d had a few seconds to enjoy themselves, “but please step aside for the master.”

Yielding Leo the floor, his song started up, and Piper had never been less surprised to hear _That’s What I Like_ by Bruno Mars. She plopped herself down on the couch next to Jason as Leo began his over the top performance, oozing confidence and swagger that was at once impressive and hysterical. Even the heckling Hazel and Percy threw his way all throughout didn’t put a damper on him. If anything, their teasing spurred him to be more flamboyant, until Hazel was dissolving into a fit of giggles and the rest of the group were nodding along appreciatively with the track.

The book of songs was passed around while Leo performed, everyone leafing through it and picking out tracks for themselves. The only one of the group who seemed disinterested in even looking through the catalog was Frank, who was engaged and enjoying Leo’s performance but probably too shy to take on one of his own. On the table was also a tablet through which they could order food and more drinks, and Percy made sure to start on that as soon as he’d selected a song to sing next. 

When Leo’s song came to an end, Percy was on his feet. “You’re good, but you’re predictable, Valdez.”

“You wanna talk predictable?” Leo asked in challenge, handing the microphone over to Percy with eyes narrowed. “If _Under the Sea_ isn’t about to start playing I’m the Queen of England.”

“I hope you enjoy my performance, your majesty,” Percy replied with a smug grin and a bow. _You’re Welcome_ from _Moana_ started to play and Leo groaned with the realization he’d been had. Rubbing the sentiment in, Percy directed his performance at his brother – which was confident and energetic even though Percy was, as far as Piper could tell, completely tone deaf. Regardless of his complete inability to sing, his mood was already turned around, his earlier frustration forgotten in the name of taking full advantage of the opportunity to be ridiculous.

Piper turned her attention to Jason, cringing as Percy missed note after note. “Are you going to sing something?” she asked, just loud enough to be heard over the music.

Jason, who had glanced only quickly at the song catalog, kept his eyes on Percy. “I’m not sure I can keep up with this… intensity.”

“Just one,” Piper urged, shaking his arm and putting on a pout, “for me.”

His gaze turned to her and he took a deep breath. “I’ll think about it.”

That was enough for her and, instead of trying to push him any harder, she went in search of the next song she wanted to sing while Percy finished up his performance with shameless flare. Piper, of course, didn’t expect Jason to be able to let loose _quite_ to the degree Percy and Leo so easily did, but she wanted him to be able to enjoy himself. His lack of familiarity with Leo and Hazel was undoubtedly making him hesitate, too. Maybe after a few more rounds of both song and drink he’d be a little more at ease and comfortable with the group. 

Next up Hazel and Leo took the stage together. Piper wasn’t sure what to expect from Hazel herself, let alone the two of them as a pair, but when the song that came out of the speaker was Gotye’s _Somebody That I Used to Know_ she was floored. Leo started the song with predictably over dramatic emotion and the rest of the group all looked at Percy in complete confusion.

Annabeth was the one to ask, “What’s happening here?”

Taking a long drink of beer and then collapsing back into his seat, one arm winding around Annabeth’s shoulders, he answered over the singing, loud enough for all to hear. “They always have to do at least one break up song. The more melodramatic, the better.”

“Why?” Piper asked, her eyebrows raised.

“Because they dated,” Percy answered, his nose wrinkling as he looked at the two of them.

Everyone was clearly shocked by this development, but Frank most of all, who had been in the middle of taking a drink of his beer and immediately started to choke. Jason was close enough to pat him on the back while he coughed and sputtered. No further explanation was provided, Percy simply watching with fond exasperation as Hazel took the second part and sang with a comic gravity equal to Leo’s. There was definitely a story there, but whatever it was, Piper had no idea, and clearly Hazel and Leo held no animosity toward each other. If they could sing songs like that together, with such good humor, their friendship must have come out of it just fine.

It was Piper’s turn again once Hazel and Leo had finished their track and she was grinning with her own self-satisfaction as her song, _I Won’t Say (I’m in Love)_ from Disney’s _Hercules_ began to play. She was prepared to juggle the parts herself, but as she started the first lines Hazel let out a shriek of excitement and asked, “Can I join?” and Piper nodded. From there, Piper took the lead part and Hazel playfully sang the Muses’ supporting lines. In that moment, without needing any other reason, Piper decided she kind of adored Hazel Levesque.

Mostly Piper chose to sing the song because she loved it and usually sang it at least once when doing karaoke, but that evening she had an additional, ulterior motive. Every line was sung at Annabeth, a heavy handed _hint hint, nudge nudge_. If anyone in the world was that song personified, it was Annabeth Chase, still refusing to admit exactly how she felt about Percy. Annabeth definitely got the message, because she crossed her arms and stared Piper down with murderous eyes from the very first note to the very last.

“I’m worried by this performance on several levels,” Jason said over Piper’s singing, about halfway through, though he was wearing an amused grin as his gaze traveled between Piper and Annabeth, then back.

Percy, who was looking at his girlfriend like he was just as aware of Piper’s intentions as Annabeth, only grinned. “Don’t worry too much, Grace, just enjoy it. It’s inevitable that they’re going to leave us for each other eventually.” Annabeth turned to smack him in the arm, the homicidal expression she wore momentarily fading, and the whole room laughed at Percy cringing away from her.

When Piper was done she went straight for Jason and laid a shameless kiss on him. “I _do_ love you,” she said for everyone to hear and earned a giddy smile from him in return.

Food arrived as Percy and Leo got up to perform Survivor’s _Eye of the Tiger_. Percy was so distraught that he almost abandoned the song altogether just to stuff his face. He didn’t, though, his attention returned to the song as soon as Leo began the opening lines. It became clear why the song was more important than food quickly, because not only did the guys bounce between lines naturally, without any previous discussion and in a well practiced rhythm, there was choreography. Hazel knew it too, joining in from her seat while she chowed down on cheese fries. Annabeth watched her boyfriend and his brother do a routine worthy of any boyband in horrified fascination, too distracted to care about touching the food herself.

“I’m not sure I can follow _that_ ,” Annabeth said, when the guys took a bow at the end of their song. She’d chosen to go next, but had yet to move to get up.

Grabbing at her arms and dragging her to her feet, Percy encouraged her enthusiastically with, “Just sing from your heart. I believe in you.” He kissed her quickly and then sent her off.

While generally not the kind of person to be openly sentimental, Annabeth had no problems being cheesy when that cheese was directed at Piper, which was how Piper knew Paramore’s _Still Into You_ was for her as soon as it started playing. The point was only driven home as Annabeth sang directly to her, blowing kisses and drawing hearts in the air with her fingers whenever there was a break between verses. Without meaning to, even though Annabeth was being playful, Piper turned misty eyed. It all came to a head when she reached the line, “ _Some things just, some things just make sense, and one of those is you and I_ ,” and Piper had to jump to her feet so she could tackle Annabeth in a hug before the song was even finished.

The group fell into an easy rotation of performances after that. While Frank and Jason continued to sit out the singing, they laughed and danced along with the others. More drinks were ordered. Food was practically inhaled all around – chicken wings, fries, stuffed peppers, mozzarella sticks. Overall the atmosphere was comfortable, fun, and before long everyone was relaxed and enthusiastic about every song.

Hazel did a cheeky performance of _Love Potion Number Nine_ by The Searchers that had everyone cheering by the end. Piper took the mic next to perform _Holding Out for a Hero_ by Bonnie Tyler, and once again had her performance crashed, this time by a very enthusiastic Percy – not that she had any complaints about his joining in, or the twin expressions of endeared exasperation from Jason and Annabeth as they sang. Leo continued his ridiculous streak by taking on Lizzo’s _Juice_ , bringing the house down when he hooked his arm around Frank’s neck at the line, “ _Somebody come get this man, I think he got lost in my DMs._ ” 

Annabeth was the one who finally slowed things down, with an emotional performance of _She Used to be Mine_ from her favorite musical, _Waitress_ – Piper had been dragged to see it three times on its first Broadway run. Piper considered that her signal to take on some Adele, going with her personal favorite, _Chasing Pavements_. After that it was Hazel again, with a sweet rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s _Landslide_. Leo decided things were getting too sleepy, and Piper would have been annoyed by the quick change of pace had he not chosen _Burnin’ Up_ by The Jonas Brothers to pick things back up.

They were all well into their drinks by the time Piper decided to sing Little Mix’s _Touch_. She was hoping to get a rise out of Jason from the semi-suggestive lyrics, but all four guys were huddled together, deep in discussion, for the better half of the song. Only Hazel payed them any attention, but also noticed the guys huddled together and was soon distracted by trying to figure out what was going on. Even though Jason was smiling when Piper took her seat, she was annoyed that he hadn’t been watching properly. That annoyance did not last long.

Percy got up next, after whispering something to Annabeth, who looked momentarily confused, but then nodded, pulled out her phone and began to record. He was into his performance as soon as DJ Khaled’s _All I Do is Win_ began to play, keeping the energy he’d had with early performances. Piper was ready to settle into another energized, silly performance, until Percy got to the first occurrence of the hook’s, “ _Everybody hands go up_ ,” and Frank, Jason and Leo all threw one of their hands in the air and jumped to their feet to join him.

“What!” Piper screamed, glancing over at Annabeth and Hazel who looked equally shocked by what they were seeing – Hazel, frozen with her eyes wide and her hands held midair beside her face, and Annabeth recording as Percy had apparently requested with her jaw dropped.

It only got better when the song reached the first verse and it was Frank who was apparently assigned to rap Ludacris’s part. Never, under any circumstances, would Piper have imagined this happening, and never would she have imagined Frank would spit absolute fire. He didn’t even hesitate on the most explicit of lines. The other three guys hyped him the whole time and when he was done, Percy jumping back in with the chorus, Frank was short of breath and oozing a shocking amount of confidence even as his face burned a flaming shade of red. Compared to that performance, Leo’s rendition of T-Pain’s verse was tame and, though he didn’t hold back, Jason’s cover of Snoop’s verse was stiff and endearingly, adorably laughable – especially because he censored himself.

All four of them kept their intensity to the end, shouting ad-libs and bouncing around the small open space serving as stage. They fed off each other’s energy and when the song was over they were all breathless from the exertion of their performance. There was no denying they were all proud of themselves for it, too, though Piper had a feeling for very different reasons between each guy. She had to say, they had a lot to be proud of.

“And that, ladies, is how you do karaoke,” Leo said, flopping himself onto the couch.

Piper’s attention was on Jason and his smug smile as he returned to her side, though. “How exactly did you get from ‘I’m not sure I can keep up,’ to _that_?”

“I told him not to be chicken shit,” Percy answered for Jason, grinning.

“I was already on board before you said that,” Jason quipped back.

No one asked how they got _Frank_ on board. Returning to his seat, he looked a little sheepish, shy now that the song had ended and still completely red. Piper wished he would look up at Hazel. Admiration, adoration even, was shining in her eyes as she watched him get settled again. Hazel was speechless, but the way she was looking at Frank spoke volumes all on its own.

“Well,” Piper said, leaning forward to grab the song book, “I refuse to be upstaged.”

That seemed to shake Hazel out of her stunned state. “You guys shouldn’t get too comfortable,” she agreed, getting up to help Piper with the very important decision of how they were going to show the boys up.

“There’s no topping what Zhang just did,” Percy replied, making Frank look up and whatever redness had faded from his cheeks instantly return. “If you ever get tired of school, you could have one hell of a rap career, dude.”

Immediately Annabeth took that challenge by getting to her feet. “Frank was awesome, but don’t be so sure of yourselves.”

“And what do you think you could possibly do to one up us?” Leo asked, draping an arm around Frank’s shoulders and leaning forward. The familiarity seemed to catch Frank off guard, whose brow furrowed as he flashed a confused glance in Leo’s direction.

Annabeth didn’t have an answer, so she just narrowed her eyes menacingly in Leo’s direction. The problem was, they’d never be able to top the guys when it came to shock factor. That performance had caught the girls off guard, been completely unexpected. Without the element of surprise it still would have been fun performance, but it wouldn’t have had quite the same impact, especially with Percy’s inability to carry a tune and Jason’s overall rigidity. In order to show the guys up, the girls would need to play to their own strengths – a little pep, a general ability to carry a tune, and a complete lack of shame when it came to winning.

Had it only been Piper and Annabeth there with their boyfriends, Piper might have gone for all out sex appeal. Plenty songs to suit that tactic came to mind as she was flipping through the catalog, but she wasn’t sure how much Hazel would be comfortable with and even Piper herself would feel awkward going too hard in front of Frank and Leo. Already the boys were growing restless waiting, with no music playing and the first round of food beginning to run out, though Percy was on the tablet rectifying the food situation.

They had no time to lose, so Piper closed her eyes and hoped for a song title to pop into her mind. When, miraculously, one did, she flipped through the pages of the catalog in search of it and pointed to the title. Both the other girls grinned, giving resolute nods in reply. Huddled up at the front of the room, they quickly discussed part distribution, whispering a few simple ideas to make the performance a bit more dynamic than just standing at the front and singing. The boys had put on a proper show and they would expect nothing less in return.

Song queued up, the girls stood in a single file line with Piper up front. She took the first verse of the song, Carly Rae Jepsen’s _Call Me Maybe_ , singing shamelessly and directly at Jason with feigned girlishness, teasingly flirtatious. When the pre-chorus came, Piper stepped aside so Annabeth could step forward and take her part, doing her best to mimic the tone Piper had set with the performance by batting her eyelashes and wiggling fingers at Percy. Annabeth stepped aside just in time to reveal Hazel to sing the chorus, who put the both of them to shame with the cheeky flare she put into each and every word, like she was born just to perform that song. 

While Piper would never have pointed it out, she did notice Hazel giving a special little glance at Frank when she sang a couple choice lines, eyes fluttering away just as soon as they made contact. It was outrageously adorable. If Frank noticed, though, he didn’t let on.

It was not a song Piper would have ever chosen for herself, not one she would have picked for Annabeth, and probably not even one she would have suggested for Hazel, based on the few things she’d learned about the girl that day. Somehow it still worked for them as a group, because they didn’t have to take themselves seriously and they could play off each other. Considering it was such an unexpected pick even for Piper, she was glad to see the boys at least somewhat stunned by how dainty and playful they were acting.

The same rotation was kept for the second verse and pre-chorus, though instead of just standing at the front of the room, Piper opted to scoot around the couch so she could plop herself into Jason’s lap while she sang. Her presence was met with wide eyes, a shy grin, and open arms, but she only stayed long enough to get her lines out and slip away again. When the song’s bridge came along, Annabeth decided to follow suit, sitting herself on Percy’s knee while she sang repetitions of, “ _Before you came into my life I missed you so bad_.” Percy tried to kiss her before she could get away, but Annabeth did not allow it, giving his cheek a gentle shove as soon as he started leaning in.

By the time they reached the end of the song, the three of them were singing together, paying each other more attention than any of the boys. Hazel even got so into it she jumped on the table to belt out the final chorus rounds. Piper was almost sad when it was over, breathless and smiling, having enjoyed herself much more than she expected. All thoughts about showing the boys up were set aside, because the flush in Annabeth’s cheeks and the shy grin Hazel wore were much more rewarding than any victory.

“I mean,” Leo said, when the girls made their way back to their seats, “it wasn’t bad or anything, but I think we won this time.”

Piper was not going to take that sitting down, at least not figuratively. “I’m sorry, were you part of that performance? I really only remember Frank being up there.”

“Ohhh, you’re gonna need some ice for that burn, Valdez,” Percy called out, sounding downright gleeful, as if Piper wasn’t indirectly burning him at the same time. Leo flipped Percy the bird and they started launching increasingly ridiculous, and lewd, insults at each other.

“Well, since my first attempt was so forgettable,” Jason replied, ignoring the two guys snapping back and forth, his tone playful, “I guess it’s time for me to give this whole karaoke thing a second shot.”

When Jason hopped up and grabbed a microphone to sing, Piper was expecting another hype song of some kind, something silly or fun. He caught her off guard, though. The opening piano chords of Train’s _Drops of Jupiter_ started to play and Jason began the bittersweet serenade. Even more surprising than the song choice itself was the fact that he actually sang fairly well despite how reserved he was, soulful even, definitely better than his comically wooden rapping had been. As he poured himself into the lyrics Piper felt her heart swell, the high of her performance fading into the ache his delivery of every word inspired.

After the song, even Jason seemed a little surprised by himself. He handed the mic off to Leo and ducked his head in embarrassment. As soon as he was within reach Piper pulled him to her and kissed him. She didn’t care about the rest of the group watching, she kissed him long and slow, needing some relief from the overwhelming surge of emotions his performance had inspired. That performance must have been genuine, because Jason was just as desperate in the way he returned her kiss. Getting lost in it would have been easy, and whether a result of alcohol or just the throbbing of her own heart, she almost wanted to.

She hadn’t heard the song start, but Leo was in the middle of Matchbox Twenty’s _How Far We’ve Come_ when she and Jason finally parted. No one was staring at them, at least, and she smiled as she curled into him when he took his seat again. A few seconds later she noticed Percy glancing over, his brow furrowed, but she didn’t really know what to make of it.

An explanation for those glances came when Leo’s song finished and Percy jumped up to do another song of his own. Unlike his earlier performances, Percy decided to go with sentiment – the very profound sentiment of _I Knew I Loved You_ by Savage Garden. Unfortunately for Percy, Annabeth was not nearly as good at dealing with sentimentality as Piper was, and quickly she began to sink into her seat, slipping deeper and deeper with every verse in a clear attempt to disappear entirely from the face of the planet. It also didn’t help that the boy really could not hit a correct note to save his life.

Regardless, Percy was pleased with himself when he finished and returned to Annabeth’s side. Piper thought he was about to be disappointed by her response, based on the thin line Annabeth’s lips were set in and the way she stared him down, but then she was kissing him in much the same way Piper had just been kissing Jason. That, apparently, was something to be added to the great, endless mystery Annabeth being in love (whether she was willing to admit it or not) had created.

Staring like a creep at her best friend’s intimate moment meant Piper didn’t notice Jason getting to his feet and taking center stage again. This time his song was less bitter and much more sweet – Ed Sheeran’s _Thinking Out Loud_.

Despite being able to tell exactly what was happening, that the boys had apparently issued each other a silent cheese challenge, Piper couldn’t help enjoying this song just as much as the first. Sure, they were being competitive dorks, but she knew Jason wouldn’t have chosen a song he didn’t truly relate to. That was a pretty heavy song to relate to, the lyrics piercing Piper’s heart and making her feel startlingly vulnerable even though he was the one singing them. 

This time Percy didn’t waste a second following up, and Piper turned to Annabeth so they could share an eye roll before Jason had returned to her side. He got another kiss, but it was much more chaste than the last one had been. His reward for that public confessional would have to wait until they were behind closed doors, and she also didn’t want to encourage this pissing contest between him and Percy too enthusiastically.

Percy did succeed in upping the cheese factor with his next song, which was Aerosmith’s _I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing_. If she’d been in Annabeth’s shoes, Piper would have been embarrassed to the brink of death, but this time when she looked over at her best friend, Annabeth was smiling. Maybe the song was just so cheesy Annabeth couldn’t take it seriously, Piper thought. Then Annabeth caught her eye and took in the confusion in her face. “Doesn’t want to miss a thing, my ass. He always falls asleep first,” she explained with a smile.

The battle might have gone on for ages had Frank not beat Jason to the punch when Percy finished that second song. All eyes were on him as he took his spot in front of the group and looked around nervously. When the familiar opening of Lauv’s _I Like Me Better_ started, Piper couldn’t help letting out an appreciative sigh. Frank continued to be hesitant, but sang just as well as he’d rapped, maybe even better. For the most part he didn’t make eye contact, but Piper was watching him closely. She noticed his eyes dart toward Hazel every once in a while, especially when he got the chorus. She, unfortunately, had suddenly become very interested in the her glass of Dr. Pepper, unable to meet his gaze.

Even though the song was so obviously meant for Hazel, Piper couldn’t help being moved by both the lyrics and the sweet way Frank delivered them. Her eyes were eventually drawn to Jason and she found him looking back at her. Jason took her hand, fingers threaded together, and for a few seconds they just sat like that, both feeling the melody playing around them all the way to their souls.

At the end of the song, Piper felt Jason begin to move to get up and gave his hand a squeeze. “Nope,” she said, shaking her head. “You boys lost. Frank is king here.”

“Piper is correct, I think it’s safe to say Frank has earned that crown,” Annabeth agreed before Percy could even dare to object, making Frank duck his head in embarrassment and quickly start to distract himself with ordering more food and another beer on the tablet.

“I refuse to admit defeat,” Leo declared, rising to his feet and heading straight for the microphone.

Hazel threw a french fry at him and shouted, “Boo! Get out of here!” She was still unable to look the Karaoke King in the eye, probably choosing to focus her attention on harassing Leo as a distraction. Piper imagined Hazel’s heart was still racing, excitement bubbling in her stomach. If only Frank had any idea how effective his little confessional had apparently been.

The heckling did not stop Leo from starting up _Baby_ by Justin Bieber, though, and soon the night was once again in full, ridiculous swing, not about to end any time soon.


	53. Chapter 53

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dropping a little note here to let you know this chapter is going to deal with annabeth's first experience with therapy, just in case that's something that might be difficult for anyone to read. i based it heavily off my own experiences, but i know this kind of thing is different for everyone and deeply personal. ♥

Tuesdays were always the worst days to Annabeth. 

They weren’t as obviously horrible as Mondays, but they were still early enough in the week that they felt a little hopeless, like the week ahead would never end. With Monday behind it, Tuesday also felt like the week had already been going on forever. Wednesdays were better, the apt nickname _hump day_ suiting it perfectly – she always felt better once she was over the Wednesday hump, so she didn’t mind them as much. Thursdays were blah in their own way, too, not quite as bad as the earlier days, but not as exciting and relieving as Fridays when they finally rolled around.

Annabeth wasn’t sure why that was all she could think about as she sat in an uncomfortable padded chair in the waiting room of a psychologist's office late the last Tuesday afternoon of February, but it was better than thinking about anything else that might have tried to creep its way onto her mind.

Percy had offered to come with her and wait while she had her first appointment, but not only did she not want to interrupt his training schedule, she felt compelled to face this challenge on her own. A small part of her was regretting that decision as she sat and stared at a dreamy landscape painting on the wall across from her. If he’d been there he could distract her, make her laugh, help her relax more effectively than her own mind’s feeble attempts to think about _days_. Relying on him was becoming frighteningly easy, almost instinctual.

There were a lot of things about Percy that were frighteningly easy, like how he’d fit into her life as if he’d always belonged, or simply how compatible they were. They were both cuddly sleepers, which was something she knew was a point of contention between Piper and Jason – Piper was cuddly and Jason was _not_. While Percy tended to eat more meat than any human Annabeth had ever met, they actually had very similar tastes in food. He liked quiet while they studied, the same as Annabeth. Neither of them held their tongue when something was bothering them, even little things, not exactly confrontational, but also not pushovers, and Annabeth liked knowing he prioritized open communication.

Along with those important factors was the astonishingly wonderful physical connection they shared, something that meant a lot more to her than she ever would have expected before meeting him. They had not ventured beyond the simplicity of using their hands, but Annabeth had not even remotely begun to grow bored, and she didn’t get the impression Percy had either. He made her feel so comfortable, brave enough that over the last couple weeks, more often than not, she was the one who initiated. It was hard to believe just a month before she would have found the idea of being so vulnerable with someone impossible, and the idea of it feeling good on so many different levels laughable.

She was out of all of her former comfort zones and somehow feeling safer than ever before.

At two minutes past three o’clock, the waiting room door opened and a man in a wheelchair rolled out. Dr. Brunner. He had a thick head of salt and pepper hair with a full beard to match, wore a tweed jacket and perfectly shined loafers. There were smile lines around his eyes, making his face appear kind and welcoming. Something about his smile was soothing, even upon this first meeting. Annabeth supposed that made him good at his job.

“Annabeth?” he asked, looking at her expectantly. She was the only one waiting, so it had been a safe assumption.

“That’s me,” she replied, and rose to her feet.

He led her back into a hallway, past a couple other office doors until he reached his own. It was a small room, but it felt cozy – a couch and two arm chairs were pressed against opposite walls, with a desk, and bookcases stuffed to bursting against the other two. Annabeth was pleasantly surprised by the warmth the room exuded, much different than the sterile, clinical atmosphere she was expecting. It felt more like a library or sitting room than doctor’s office, the kind of place she would always feel at ease.

“Please, have a seat,” Dr. Brunner told her, holding a hand out to the couch and chairs, allowing her to take her pick of them.

Annabeth chose one of the arm chairs, placed her bag on the floor, settled back into her seat and crossed her legs. She watched as he took a position across from her, next to the couch, and picked a notepad and pen up off of his desk. Suddenly she felt very thirsty. She didn’t know what to do with her hands or where she was supposed to look – directly at him, around the room, at the artwork, out the sliver of window not covered by curtains. Nerves were making her jittery, her foot bouncing in the air. God, she felt stupid being so anxious.

“It’s okay to be nervous,” he told her, somehow reading her mind. Actually, he probably knew what was going on in her head because it was normal, plenty of people having experienced it before her.

“I’ve never done this before,” she admitted, cringing at herself and the awkwardness of that statement immediately after.

Dr. Brunner didn’t seemed bothered at all. “Many of my patients are first timers, don’t worry. Why don’t you start by telling me a little about yourself?”

Talking about herself, that was the problem. Annabeth took a deep breath and decided to start with the basics. “My name is Annabeth Chase. I’m twenty-two, a senior at NYU in the Architecture department, graduating in May. I’m originally from San Francisco, but I live here in the city with my best friend.”

“And what brought you here to me today, Annabeth?” he asked.

“My boyfriend thought it would be a good idea if I talked to someone,” she answered, which she realized wasn’t exactly what he was looking for, but was the easier and safer route for the moment.

To her surprise, Dr. Brunner chuckled. When she stared at him in confusion, finding it very strange that he’d _laughed_ about that, he smiled. “In my experience, it’s more common for boyfriends and husbands to be… resistant to therapy, even just their significant others seeking it, not to be the ones who suggest it. That’s a pleasant surprise.”

“Well, Percy’s not exactly a common person,” Annabeth replied, finding a smile pulling at her lips, too. Talking about Percy, that was easy.

“How long have you been dating?” Dr. Brunner asked. Annabeth knew his curiosity was because, frankly, it was his job to get her to open up about the details of her life, but there was a warmth in his voice and expression that made her feel comfortable regardless. It seemed like he cared genuinely, along with it being his job to delve into her psyche.

“We met about a month ago,” Annabeth told him, realizing it probably sounded crazy that her boyfriend of less than a month had suggested she seek therapy. Wow, when she thought about it that way, she really was an absolute mess.

There was no judgment in Dr. Brunner’s expression or voice in response, though. “You didn’t feel like he was overstepping by suggesting it after so short a time together?”

“No,” Annabeth replied honestly. “This last month has been… hard for me. Well, kind of my whole life has been – which sounds stupid and privileged, when I say it out loud, all things considered. But, Percy was a big part of getting me through. He already knows me better than just about anyone in the world, aside from my best friend. I know he suggested it because he’s worried about me, and because he thinks this might help, and because he wants what best for me.”

She noticed Dr. Brunner scribble something on his pad and wondered what about her rambling had been worth writing down. That, she was sure, would be happening often. Idly, she also wondered if he might be able to give her his notes at the end of the session, so she could go over them too, study herself. Despite the actual desire she had to ask, she decided to hold her tongue until she could look up online whether that was considered an appropriate request at all.

When he looked back up at her, his lips were pursed. “You’re not close to many people, then?”

“Until recently, it was just Piper, my best friend,” Annabeth confirmed.

“What about your family?” he asked, his expression remaining even, calm, betraying none of his thoughts.

The topic of Annabeth’s family was a massive can of worms, and the idea of opening it made her shift uncomfortably in her chair. That was what she was there for, though. Annabeth opened it.

While she talked, Dr. Brunner gave her his full and undivided attention. Having a stranger listen to her so intently was unsettling in a way, but before long she found herself growing a little more comfortable with the situation, the words flowing more easily out of her. All the while, she was surprised by her own candidness, the ease with which she opened herself up. Annabeth didn’t try to sugar coat anything, she told her story as it was, as she had felt it in the past and as she was feeling it in the moment. There was no need for embellishment, nor to hide the darker details she generally found unpalatable even to think about too hard.

Unexpectedly to her, Dr. Brunner occasionally interjected with comments and questions of his own. A few times he probed a little deeper into something she said, getting her to expand on bits she was inclined to gloss over. It never felt intrusive. These were the basics of what made Annabeth, Annabeth. It also helped that he took time to validate her feelings, somehow making her feel less crazy even as she poured her heart out in a way she never had to anyone before.

“I still feel terrible for how I treated and viewed Matthew and Bobby all those years,” she confessed, her jitters having long passed, replaced by a tentative comfort. Her hands were folded neatly in her lap, the tapping of her foot stilled, and while she still struggled with where to look, she was more inclined to make eye contact than she had been in those first few minutes. It amazed her how easily she’d gone from jumpy mess to average Annabeth. “They never did anything wrong. It wasn’t fair to hold what our parents did against them, but I acted like they were the ones who’d treated me like crap instead. Honestly, for a long time I didn’t even think about them. They were after thoughts, just here in the background sometimes when I had to attend family events.”

Dr. Brunner considered her for a few seconds, his eyes full of compassion. She felt a little unworthy of receiving such an expression, but did her best to meet his eye just the same. “I don’t think it’s fair to hold that against yourself. You were a child, a very lonely one, and as children we find ways to cope as best we can. Sometimes those coping mechanisms aren’t healthy, and sometimes anger gets misplaced as a result, but you can’t be blamed for not having better tools. Your parents were supposed to be providing those things for you. As an adult you’ve realized that your brothers weren’t responsible for your parents’ actions, and it sounds like you wanted to mend that relationship as a result.”

“I did,” Annabeth confirmed, having to bite her bottom lip to fend off the sudden threat of tears. “I still do.”

“And you still can,” he assured her.

“Our dad isn’t going to let me see them,” she argued, shaking her head and feeling her shoulders slump.

Like he already had countless times in just that first session, he surprised her by nodding in agreement. “It might take time, you might have to wait until they’re older, adults free to make their own choices, and I doubt it will be easy in any way, but it’s still _possible_.”

Many times over the weeks that had passed since her trip to San Francisco, Annabeth had hoped as much. Every day that went by without hearing from Matthew and Bobby made her lose a little of that hope, though. They were the one thing she wanted to salvage from her family and childhood, but they were completely out of her reach.

“I still feel guilty,” Annabeth said, even after his assurances. There didn’t seem to be anything that would assuage that guilt, at least not any time soon.

“Feeling guilty is okay, too,” he replied. “Just try to remember those things I said and don’t be too hard on yourself about it. You’ve done the best you could up until now. You’ll do even better going forward.”

It wasn’t much later that their hour came to an end. They’d only just brushed on the topic of her mother. Annabeth hadn’t even tried to broach the subject of Luke – talking about that, about sex, with a complete stranger in the first hour was admittedly too much for Annabeth to stomach, even if that stranger was a professional she knew would recognize she’d not been the one who did something wrong. Despite those things, though, she felt good about the talk they’d had. For just a start, it was better than she’d anticipated.

Annabeth wasn’t sure what to do with herself after her appointment. It felt like everything in her head had been shuffled around, taken out of the places she’d carefully tucked it all away for God knew how long and dumped out. That was a good thing, she tried to remind herself. Those were things that needed to be taken out of their hiding places and examined. Still, as she stepped out of the office and back into the chilly, overcast outside world, everything felt a little surreal.

Considering the office wasn’t too far, Annabeth decided to walk herself home rather than trying to catch the bus. It was cold out, but she’d been prepared and between her coat and the movement, she kept warm as she traveled familiar city blocks on her way home. The crisp late February air was refreshing, went a long way to clear her muddled mind. 

Even that time of year, there were plenty of tourists around, and Annabeth enjoyed watching them as she passed, on their way to or from the many landmarks and historical sites jammed together just on the island of Manhattan. Once upon a time she probably looked just like them, new to the city and so amazed by every little thing she saw. Now she still found herself in awe of the city around her, but less for those obvious attractions and more for the world that thrived around them, day in and day out.

By the time she made it back to the apartment, Annabeth didn’t feel particularly different. She was hopeful, looking forward to the second session she had scheduled for the following Tuesday at the same time, but it didn’t feel like anything in her had changed or as if some profound shift had occurred over the course of that hour talking. Logically, she knew that was to be expected. Change, at least when it was effective, tended to be incremental. In a few months, maybe a year, Annabeth would probably look back and think of herself as significantly different. She was eager to meet that person.

Annabeth supposed, for the time being, she’d be looking forward to what was in store for her on Tuesdays.


	54. Chapter 54

It had been two whole weeks since they’d arrived home from Malibu, February finally drawing to a close and March beginning, and Piper had settled comfortably back into the routine of her life.

After her first therapy session, Annabeth had cashed her mother’s check and agreed not to think about it for a while. She’d declined Jason’s offer to try looking into her mother’s identity, at least for the time being. Piper wasn’t entirely sure how good Annabeth felt about it, but she insisted it was for the best and that she wouldn’t drive herself crazy thinking about someone who had never even tried to reach out to her before. She was thankful for the money and that was enough.

In the weeks that had passed, however, Piper and Jason had yet to talk again about the conversation they’d had in Malibu. It was always there in the back of her mind, a nagging feeling telling her that eventually they would need to have a conversation, even if she was mildly terrified by the prospect. She wasn’t sure if she was just waiting for him to bring it up or if she was purposefully avoiding it. A little bit of both were likely.

Her confusion and resulting bad moods when thoughts about that night crossed her mind had not gone unnoticed, though. Whenever she’d start feeling especially sour, Jason would inexplicably pick up on it. Instead of asking, he’d just start to get frustrated in return, and then she’d get more upset because he was all huffy about it, too. They were definitely in need of a second conversation, Piper knew that much.

So, yeah, she was probably purposefully avoiding it.

Piper was receiving one such frustrated look from him that Sunday evening while she reclined on Jason’s couch, trying to get some studying done for an exam she had the next day. She’d been doing her best to ignore the defiant set of Jason’s jaw and his complete lack of focus on his laptop for close to an hour. Heaving a sigh, she set her own textbook aside and nudged him with her foot. “Stop looking so grumpy.”

“I’m not grumpy,” Jason replied, very grumpily. “You’re the one who’s been grumpy lately.”

He had her there, but she bristled. “I haven’t been grumpy lately.”

“Right. Shouldn’t have said anything,” he mumbled, looking back at his laptop screen. The distance in his eyes told Piper he wasn’t really seeing what was in front of him, though.

She nudged him with her foot again, this time a little harder. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Jason took off his glasses, tossed them onto the end table beside him, and rubbed his hands over his face. “Nothing, never mind.”

It was clearly something.

They were alone in the apartment for the time being, but that could change at any minute. Thalia and Reyna were working at the club. Frank had a study group. Nico was having dinner with his sister, Hazel, something Piper had learned was a weekly occurrence. Since usually the apartment was more or less empty on Sundays, she and Jason had decided to make it a practice to spend the day there and leave Piper’s apartment free for Annabeth and Percy on his only free day of the week. If there was something in particular bothering Jason, Piper would rather talk it out while they had the place to themselves.

He wasn’t the only one bothered, though. She was just as bothered. This was the perfect time for them to talk, but she was too scared to bite the bullet and start the conversation. Like the big baby she was, Piper continued to hold her tongue.

For a few seconds longer he pretended to look at his laptop screen, then he sighed and snapped it shut. “You’ve been weird off and on since we got back from Malibu.” He didn’t say it, but Piper could sense him thinking she’d been weird even _before_ they got back. The whole time they were in Malibu Piper had been a mess to one degree or another.

Piper looked away, fixing her gaze on one of the many, no doubt expensive, abstract, monochrome paintings that adorned the living room. The art didn’t suit any of the apartment’s inhabitants, at least not based on what Piper had learned about each of them. She’d found it strange since her first visit how little of their individual identities were reflected in the décor of the space they all shared. Though she’d never say it, she also found it very sad. Her apartment with Annabeth may have been paid for by Piper’s dad, but the two of them had turned it into a home that was entirely theirs, the home they’d both always dreamed of.

“Do you like your apartment?” Piper found herself asking, knowing full well she was avoiding his question. Her curiosity was just suddenly overwhelming, all she could think about, and she felt like she might lose her mind entirely if she didn’t get an answer.

Jason, apparently too surprised by the change of subject to object, answered immediately. “It’s okay, I guess. I’ve lived here my whole life.”

A whole life in this impersonal, cold place. It felt a little warmer when it was full of his family – Thalia, Reyna, Frank and Nico, teasing and laughing and enjoying each other’s company. Piper had always felt her dad’s place in Malibu was cold and impersonal, too, but she’d spent most of her life in boarding school dorms with Annabeth. Impersonal was the only real way to describe a dorm, but somehow they had never felt cold, and at least Piper and Annabeth had been able to decorate the cookie cutter spaces to their own tastes.

“Why?” Jason asked when Piper didn’t respond again.

“You never talk about it,” Piper replied, realizing why the thought bothered her, how it connected to what Jason was asking her, in the same instant she spoke the words. “You never talk about your family unless I ask specific, pointed questions. I still don’t even understand how you know Nico, or why you’re so close. I can only barely wrap my mind around what kind of relationship you have with your parents. You’re still a mystery to me in so many ways.”

Jason turned to face her, his face pinched in confusion. “That’s what’s been bothering you this whole time?”

“Part of it, I think,” Piper told him, sitting up and crossing her legs. She was only figuring it out as she said the words, but not bothering with any kind of filter had worked alright with him the first time she tried it, so Piper decided to go full steam ahead thinking aloud. “That night when you asked me if I was really attracted to you, it felt so out of the blue. It terrified me how unprepared I was for that question. I think – and I’m only figuring this out as I’m saying it – but I think, maybe, I feel like I don’t… like I can’t know what you need from me if I don’t know more _about_ you, where you come from, what your life has been like.”

“What do you want to know?” Jason asked, looking a little uncomfortable.

There was only one way to answer that question. “Everything.”

“I’m not good at talking, Pipes,” he replied, meeting her eyes with some difficulty. He did it, though, and she was thankful he did.

“Start with something small,” she urged, her heart beginning to race. It felt like they were facing down a hurdle and if they could just clear it the race would be in the bag. Piper didn’t let herself consider what might happen if they couldn’t. Needing to anchor herself to him, she reached out for his hand. He offered it without hesitation.

Jason looked around the apartment, struggling to come up with something, then he raised their joined hands and pointed across the living room. “Right there. That’s where I was when Thalia caught me trying to chew on that stapler. She screamed and scared me, so I squeezed the thing and stapled my stupid lip. I’m not sure where Mom was. I don’t remember much about Mom in those early years. She didn’t get sober until I was in middle school, so Thalia was usually the one taking care of me until then.”

Saying she was _happy_ with what he told her would be wrong, especially with the details Jason had chosen to share about his mother, but Piper certainly felt relieved. “Thalia would have been… what, seven? Eight?” she asked, inching closer and draping her legs across Jason. Automatically his arm wrapped around her waist and he drew her fully into his lap, settling into each other comfortably.

“Seven, yeah,” Jason confirmed. “People – well, mostly our parents’ friends – think Thalia is this crazy, unreliable, screw up, but she raised me. We had nannies and other household staff, but it was really just us against the world.”

“And Reyna?” she asked, running a hand through his short blonde hair.

Jason laughed, nodding, and then looked at Piper curiously, as if a thought was dawning on him for the first time. “I think that’s why I had such a huge crush on her, because my immature brain thought the way to keep her around forever was to fall in love with and marry her.”

“That could be,” Piper agreed, nodding. “Or it could have just been because Reyna is insanely hot.”

“Oh? You think so?” Jason asked, his eyebrows raised and a teasing lilt in his voice.

Piper nodded, leaning in to brush her lips against his, voice barely above a whisper, “Almost as hot as you are.”

“And not nearly as hot as you are,” he replied, the complete lack of hesitation and the heaviness of his voice making every inch of Piper tingle with anticipation. She was enjoying this conversation too much, though, so when he tilted his head in an attempt to kiss her, she pulled back.

“You say that now,” she teased lightly, “but I practically had to beg you to ask for my number the night we met.”

Jason looked distinctly disappointed when he failed to catch her lips. “Am I going to be paying for that for the rest of my life?”

“Probably,” Piper admitted, trying to ignore the thrill she felt at even the implication they may be doing this for the rest of their lives. It had been a thought she’d entertained, but to hear it come out of his mouth was something else entirely. She didn’t risk pointing it out, though, instead saying, “I wonder how many poor girls have thrown themselves at you over the years and been completely ignored.”

“None,” he said with a laugh. “You were only drawn in because I made a fool of myself first.”

“You really are an idiot,” she said, trying to keep the affection out of her voice and failing. “I had my eye on you from the second you walked in that night and _immediately_ wanted to do all sorts of unspeakable things to you.”

“Unspeakable, you say? Maybe we could move this to the bedroom and you could show me instead,” he suggested, leaning in to try capturing her lips and again being evaded.

Piper put a finger to his lips and shook her head. Denying him was a little nerve wracking in the wake of the confession that had led to this very conversation, but she hoped he was reassured by her admission she’d wanted him from the moment she’d laid eyes on him – that her attraction to him had always been immensely physical. “We haven’t even scratched the surface of everything yet, Mr. Grace. Please control yourself.”

Jason smiled and kissed her fingers, his eyes glinting. “What else would you like to know, Miss McLean?”

Gently, she tapped his mouth with the tips of her fingers in rebuke. “You’re deciding what you tell me, remember? Something else small.”

“You mentioned Nico,” he said after a short pause to think, his eyes turning thoughtful, a little distant. “I actually don’t remember when we _met_ , because of our parents always just being around each other, but we never really talked until the summer before my sophomore year of high school. He was about thirteen then, I think, and we ran into each other at this garden party the di Angelos were throwing. Thalia, Frank and I were staying at our house upstate, so Thalia dragged us along with her to it because our dad was making her go.”

“You have a house upstate?” Piper asked, not sure why this surprised her. The idea his family would need _another_ residence in the state when they owned an entire tower was simply ridiculous, and not for the first time Piper was startled by the fact she still didn’t fully grasp the extent of the Grace family wealth and influence – Piper, who didn’t really remember what it was like not to have all the money she wanted, whose father could write checks for twenty-five grand without batting an eye, who had spent most of her life calling a mansion on the beach in Malibu home.

Jason seemed a little embarrassed, but nodded. Piper wondered how many times in his life he’d encountered reactions like hers. “Two, actually.”

Piper did her best to swallow her disbelief, not wanting to make Jason feel uncomfortable talking about it, and nodded. Having two (probably very expensive) houses in one small state alone was, indeed, ridiculous, but she was going to act like it was the most normal thing on the planet. “So, what happened at the party?”

“What happened at the party doesn’t matter,” Jason said with a shake of his head, though there was a sadness in his voice that made Piper think there was definitely a story there. That story wasn’t just Jason’s though, it was Nico’s, too, and she wasn’t going to press him to tell it without knowing Nico would be okay with her hearing the details. 

“A big part of the reason he moved in here was because of how close he is with Reyna,” Jason continued, “but we’d been friends in our own right for years by then. He didn’t want to be my friend at first. Nico, for a long time, didn’t want to be anyone’s friend. I kind of forced myself on him. I’d show up at the di Angelo place on Friday nights with a pizza and a new video game or some stupid movie on DVD and he couldn’t turn me away because his dad worked for my dad.”

More than any of the blasé references to uber wealth, this surprised Piper. Jason was the last person in the world she ever would have described as pushy, but the behavior he described sounded a lot like something Piper herself would do. Piper would definitely describe _herself_ as pushy. “You forced him to be your friend?”

“Took close to a year,” Jason replied, clearly proud of himself. “I could tell how much he needed one – a friend, I mean. Once I got that thought in my head, I couldn’t let it go. I eventually missed a Friday because something else had come up, figured Nico wouldn’t care because he always acted annoyed when I showed up, anyway. Then, close to one in the morning, I got a text from him that just said, ‘asshole,’ and I knew I’d succeeded.”

“You’re better at talking than you give yourself credit for,” Piper told him softly, her chest full of fuzzy warmth as she regarded him, yet again, in a whole new light. “But also, how exactly did being texted the word, ‘asshole,’ mean you succeeded in making him your friend?”

Jason grinned extra wide then, his scar stretched to its limit. “Because he’d only care enough to call me an asshole for not showing up if he wanted me to show up, and he’d only want me to show up if I was his friend.”

Boys, Piper thought, were really the dumbest creatures on Earth.

“Why does he live here now?” Piper asked, keeping her thoughts on male stupidity to herself. “Does he go to our school too?”

“No,” Jason replied with a chuckle. “He lives here because he _doesn’t_ go to school. His parents kicked him out when he refused. Nico’s in a band. Plays keyboard. They mostly do weddings.”

Piper barked a laugh and then covered her mouth. “Nico plays keyboard in a wedding band?”

“They’re not technically a wedding band, but they play whatever gigs they can get,” Jason amended. “Someday I should make him get out his keyboard and play you his rousing rendition of _Copacabana_. It’s a personal favorite of mine.”

“Considering I want you to remain alive and I get the distinct impression he would murder you if you asked, how about no,” she said, though just the image of the young man she’d become acquainted with knowing how to play such a song was borderline hysterical. “Sometime we should throw a party for them to play.”

“I’d love that,” Jason agreed, smile and voice softening as he reached up to tuck some hair behind her ear.

“Keep going,” Piper urged, her arms tightening around him slightly. “Tell me something else. I’m loving every second of this.”

“There are, somewhere in this apartment, pictures of a phase I went through as a toddler where I was obsessed with chewing on Frank’s giant baby feet,” he replied, and seemed surprised that he hadn’t had to think hard to come up with something else to share.

“Ew!” Piper exclaimed, leaning away from him. “And you kiss me with that mouth?”

“I do more than kiss you with it,” he teased smugly, and she shoved him even though her legs shifted unconsciously just at the thought. Despite whatever insecurities he harbored, at least he felt confident about how much Piper enjoyed his face buried between her thighs, which was a lot.

“Never again.”

“I don’t believe you,” he said with a shrug. “You like it too much. You make this little squeaky, whiny noise whenever I’m down there.”

Piper’s jaw dropped and she gave him a shove. “I do not!” And, okay, maybe this was not the first time Piper had been told she made such a sound when she was especially enjoying herself in bed, but she refused to admit it on principle.

“Yeah, you do,” Jason insisted, and he proceeded to try to imitate it.

She did her best to give him a stern, disapproving look, even though this display really tempted her to give into his earlier suggestion they move to his bedroom. Clearly they would need to get to the bottom of these accusations he was making against her, and if he was feeling playful enough to tease her so shamelessly she was sure there was plenty of fun in store for her behind closed doors, but that could wait. “Stay on topic, Mr. Grace. Has Frank always lived here, then?”

“No,” Jason answered, continuing to look smug even in the face of Piper’s insistence they stay focused. “He lived in the building, a few floors down, but he didn’t move in here until high school. His… well, his mom died, and his dad, my brother, works at the Pentagon, so he’s never here. Thalia, Reyna and I moved Frank up without even asking any of the adults. None of them really cared once they found out, either.”

The intimate detail of Frank’s life – the loss of his mother – felt too personal for Piper to linger on, so she focused on a much smaller detail instead. “Your brother works at the Pentagon?” It was another one of those things Jason had said with a borderline inappropriate degree of nonchalance. 

“Dad’s only mildly disappointed my brother doesn’t want to turn it into a political career,” Jason said, rolling his eyes. “All my siblings have disappointed Dad in one way or another.”

“And you?” she asked gently, wondering even as she asked it if the question might be too difficult for him to answer.

Some of the ease he’d previously answered with disappeared, but he pulled her a little closer, as if for comfort, and powered through. “Not exactly. Not yet, at least. Doing what he wants, what he expects, has just always been easier than fighting back the way my siblings do. Frank feels a lot of that, too, even though there’s less direct pressure on him since he’s a grandson. We’ve always related with each other in that regard.”

Piper’s brow furrowed at the melancholy in both Jason’s voice and eyes, and she took his face between her hands. “What do _you_ want?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I’ve never really been passionate about anything. Feels too late to try figuring it out now, even if Dad would let me.”

“It’s not,” Piper told him firmly. “You deserve to do what you want, Jason. You deserve to find what makes you happy.”

Until then she hadn’t realized the extent of Jason’s disinterest in what he studied. The offhand comments he’d make about boring reading or feeling like his brain was melting in lectures suddenly took on a whole new meaning. Piper complained about schoolwork being boring all the time, but she did find most of the content stimulating, and she’d been especially excited about putting what she learned into practice the previous two summers when she’d interned. Even Annabeth, who loved school more than any person ever should, sometimes got fed up with a particularly boring task and complained. It had never occurred to Piper that in Jason’s case those complaints might mean something different.

“You make me happy,” he replied smoothly, making her simultaneously smile and roll her eyes.

“That’s not the kind of happiness I mean,” she said.

“We’re less than three months away from graduation, Pipes,” Jason said, shaking his head. The way he spoke made Piper think he’d said these things to himself a thousand times, like he was going through a list he’d written for himself long ago. “I’ve already taken the LSATs. I’m going to Columbia next year. I don’t hate it. Sometimes it’s even kind of interesting, especially the law stuff.”

“Okay,” Piper said, holding his face firmly between her hands and looking him directly in the eye. “But if you get a year deep into law school and hate it, I’m going to give you constant shit until you drop out and find your real passion.”

Jason looked unimpressed by the threat, but the playfulness in his eyes told Piper he wasn’t upset by it. “What if I’m immune to your shit giving by then?”

“Don’t worry,” Piper assured him, leaning in so her lips hovered less than an inch from his, “I’m good at adapting my shit giving so immunity never becomes an issue.” Finally, having not realized how badly even she wanted it, she kissed him, and their wonderful conversation came to an even more wonderful conclusion.


	55. Chapter 55

It all started at an ungodly hour on a very average Thursday morning at the end of February. 

Annabeth was half asleep, but in her groggy state she was watching Percy get dressed. Already he was keeping a few changes of clothes at her apartment. More often than not he spent the night, but spending the night meant rushing off early in the morning to head to practice. Mondays and Fridays, when they had their swim class, he got to sleep in a little, and Sundays he took off entirely, the rest of the week he always left by four. In the morning. Ungodly, even by Annabeth’s standards.

Generally, he was too tired to fool around much when he slept over, those short nights devoted to actual sleeping. Annabeth didn’t mind it, and though she did often surprise herself with how badly she craved his hand between her thighs and his lips on her skin, just sleeping beside him did have its own satisfying charm. He fell asleep so easily, slept so soundly next to her even when she stayed up working on her laptop or sketching. Whenever she would finally curl up next to him, his warmth would lull her to sleep faster than she ever would have managed without him, and he always made sure to wake her up before he got out of bed in the morning so she wouldn’t find herself suddenly alone later.

His new schedule was daunting even to Annabeth, but he was handling it without a single complaint. If anything, he seemed happy, excited to spend so much time in the pool, facing every challenge like it was nothing. She knew he was struggling a little with his school work, usually tired by the time he got around to it in the evenings, but he powered through. No one would have blamed him if he’d decided to take the semester off, no one but Percy himself.

“Hey, Beth?” he said softly from her desk chair, where he’d been sitting while pulling his socks on. “You awake?”

He’d never called her Beth before. No one had ever called her Beth before. A few times people had tried to call her variations of Ann or Annie, and every time she’d hated it. His casual use of the nickname startled her, making her blink away her drowsiness. She didn’t entirely hate it, though. Actually, she _really_ liked it.

“Kinda,” she replied, stretching in response to her newfound wakefulness. Her words were still sluggish. “What’s up?”

“Do you remember that short story from class?” he asked, and then said nothing else.

“You’re going to have to be more specific, Seaweed Brain. There were a lot of them,” she told him flatly, the nickname she’d coined for him in Malibu rolling almost too easily off her tongue, as it had tended to in the weeks since they’d been home. She rolled onto her side and pushed herself up on one arm to look at him properly. Looking at him was truly one of the greatest pleasures the world had to offer, even in her mostly dark bedroom.

He stared at nothing in particular for a few seconds, thinking. “That one where the town has a lottery every year, and then stone the person whose name they draw or whatever.”

“ _The Lottery_ ,” Annabeth said, trying not to laugh. “One of the most famous short stories ever written. Yes, I remember it.”

“Oh,” he replied, sheepish. “I thought I just called it that because it was easier to remember.”

This time Annabeth did laugh. “What about it?”

“I think about it a lot,” he told her, leaning back in the chair once his socks were secure in place. “The end, where her family turns on her and joins in the stoning, I’ve never been able to get that part out of my head.”

Being honest, Annabeth hadn’t found the story very compelling. She appreciated how ahead of its time it had been, found the history surrounding it – especially the backlash _The New Yorker_ had received for publishing it and the simple fact such a controversial and groundbreaking piece had been written by a woman in a time when women were still not taken very serious in literary circles – interesting, but the story itself hadn’t made much of an impression on her. It was dark and depressing, which definitely spoke to human nature, but she had enough of that in her own life and didn’t need it from her fiction, too.

“Why are you thinking about it now?” she asked, her curiosity piqued. First thing in the morning was an odd time to be contemplating the bleak fate of Tessie Hutchinson.

His brow furrowed, a deep line forming between them. “I can’t really explain,” he admitted, flashing her a halfhearted smile in apology. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

Her eyes were still heavy, and as soon as he left she figured she’d be back to sleep, but Annabeth sat up and held out her arms. Percy looked confused for a second, but he rose, came to sit on the edge of her bed and let her wrap her arms around him. “Are you going to be okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” he assured her, leaning down to press a kiss to her shoulder. She was wearing one of his t-shirts. They were all well worn and soft, usually with some kind of pop culture logo or reference printed on them, and had become her favorite things to wear. The day before she’d even worn one to school. “I’ve never mentioned how much it bothers me to anyone before. I didn’t think anyone would understand, but I wanted to tell you, since it was on my mind.”

“I can’t exactly say I understand,” she confessed, “but I’m glad you told me, anyway. You don’t always have to be able to explain.”

Percy kissed her. “Thank you,” he whispered after, his forehead tipped against hers.

Nothing about the moment was exceptional. It wasn’t romantic or passionate. Still, as they sat there and she thought about how he’d simply wanted to share this small burden with her, her heart swelled. Three words tickled the tip of her tongue.

“Have a good day,” she told him instead, cursing herself as a coward. “Call if you need to talk again. I’ll see you at lunch?”

“You’ll see me at lunch,” he confirmed. 

Percy brushed his lips against her forehead one more time and was gone a minute later, leaving Annabeth sitting in bed, too caught up in thoughts to be able to fall back to sleep – why that story of all the pieces they’d gone over in class had stuck with him so powerfully; if he’d ever be able to explain it to her; how good it had felt that he confided in her, even such a small amount; and, most of all, wondering what might have happened if she hadn’t held back the impulse to say those three dangerous words.

A little over a week passed before Annabeth yet again found herself having to face her own feelings. 

Late that Friday afternoon they were, for the first time, approaching the brownstone Percy called home. Annabeth was absolutely shocked, mostly because his place was _even nicer than hers_. Percy laughed when she spoke that shock to words, explaining it belonged to the di Angelos, and really he just lived with Hazel because Hazel hadn’t wanted to live alone when she moved to the city for school. If they’d met a few years before (Annabeth definitely took this chance to tease him about his crush sophomore year), she would have discovered him still sharing a tiny room at his parent’s apartment with Leo. 

Annabeth thought better than to ask why the di Angelos were alright with him living there. She still failed to understand so much about his relationship with Hazel and her family, the painful history they shared. Someday, she told herself, hoped, he would be able to tell her the whole story. They had plenty of time.

Neither of them were entirely sure why they hadn’t been to his place yet. Annabeth got along well with Hazel and Leo, and she was now very sure she’d be coming back often with her sketchbook, if only to sketch his place and the beautiful buildings surrounding it. That night, though, they were just dropping by on their way to Annabeth’s from school so Percy could pick up some of his books, which he’d forgotten that morning but needed to study.

“Leo’s probably not home yet,” Percy told her as they climbed the front steps and he pulled out his key. “Hazel might be here, though. Her Friday classes–”

“Are done by noon,” Annabeth finished. “I know, Percy. We had lunch with her a few hours ago, the way we do every Friday.”

“Right,” he said, and she realized then he was nervous about this visit. She couldn’t blame him. It may have seemed like a small, insignificant step in comparison to the massive leaps and bounds they’d taken so early in their relationship, but Annabeth’s first visit to his place was still a step all the same. Surely he’d imagined something a little more memorable than a quick drop in.

Before Percy opened the door, Annabeth was only excited, though. That excitement didn’t last long once the door was open.

“Percy?” a feminine voice called from inside. It wasn’t Hazel’s familiar tone, which instantly had Annabeth on guard. “Leo?”

At the sound of his name being called, Percy froze in the doorway, his earlier nervousness becoming much more pronounced. It only took one word for Annabeth to understand why, and for her to join him in that profound nervousness – or panic. Yeah, Annabeth was definitely panicking.

“Mom?” Percy called back, voice a little strangled and panic to match Annabeth’s in his eyes as he glanced at her.

A woman appeared just inside the entryway, a dishtowel in her hands and a warm, welcoming smile on her face. Her thick, dark brown hair was tied back in a pony tail. Annabeth noted a few streaks of gray, the laugh lines around her eyes and mouth, and found the signs of aging most women would try desperately to hide only made this woman significantly more beautiful. And her eyes, though a caramel brown, were just as deep and enchanting as Percy’s.

“Hazel said she wasn’t– Oh!” she said, a hint of surprise fluttering across her features when she noticed Annabeth a step behind Percy.

The door closed behind them, trapping Annabeth inside. She was absolutely terrified to be meeting Percy’s mother like this, suddenly, without preparation. Annabeth hadn’t been home since early that morning. She’d showered in the locker room after their swim class, but those never felt like proper showers and her hair was always a frizzy disaster after. Her clothes, too, had been selected with just a day at school in mind. Annabeth would not have chosen a raggedy old boarding school hoodie and jeans for her first impression on Percy’s mother – and, oh God, she had spilled coffee down her sweater on her way to school that morning.

Percy, to his credit, recovered from his surprise quickly. “Uh, Mom, this is Annabeth,” he told his mother, slipping his hand into Annabeth’s and tugging her forward for the sake of introduction. “Annabeth, this is my mom, Sally Jackson.”

Sally’s surprise quickly melted back into the warmth she’d exuded when she’d first appeared in the doorway. “Well this is a pleasant surprise,” she said, her eyes jumping between Percy and Annabeth before she stepped forward and offered Annabeth her hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Annabeth replied, trying to swallow back her abject horror at the circumstances. 

“What are you doing here?” Percy asked. From the look on his face, Annabeth gathered he couldn’t quite compute what was happening yet. Neither could she.

“Do I need to have a reason to visit my kids?” Sally replied, flashing her son an accusatory glare. The way Sally said ‘my kids’ gave Annabeth the distinct impression she included Hazel in that group.

“Well, no, just usually you call ahead,” Percy said.

Sally’s eyes sparkled with amusement and she turned to head back into the house proper. The entry level was a fully open space, with living room at the front, a small dining room in the middle and kitchen in the back. To the right, where the front door stood, was a staircase leading to the second story, and behind it another leading down into a basement level. Percy and Annabeth followed Sally all the way back to the kitchen.

“I did call ahead,” Sally admitted as she hung her dishtowel, “I called _Hazel_. I figured you wouldn’t be home, and Hazel said she wasn’t expecting you back tonight, but I wanted to drop off some leftovers.”

Heat flashed across Annabeth’s face. Percy wasn’t expected back because he would be at _her_ place. Apparently this was something Sally was aware of. She didn’t have a chance to process this information fully, though, because a second later there was a screech from the stairs and a high pitched voice screeched, “Percy!”

A tiny form streaked across the house and launched itself into Percy’s arms so fast he almost didn’t have a chance to react. Hazel was following behind, clearly exasperated. “I’d almost gotten her down when she heard you,” Hazel complained, hands on her hips. “She got so excited she managed to kick me in the chin.”

 _She_ , Annabeth recognized from pictures, was Percy’s little sister, Estelle. The almost-five-year-old had her arms latched around Percy’s neck and was laughing with delight. “Are you giving Hazel a bad time, Stella?” Percy asked, though his tone was seeping with affection and completely devoid of reproach.

“Always. She takes after her brothers too much,” Hazel replied, annoyed, and only after noticing Annabeth was in the room as well and adding an, “Oh, hey!”

Estelle seemed to notice Annabeth for the first time then, as well. Huge caramel eyes, identical to Sally’s, studied Annabeth curiously, then Estelle covered her mouth with one hand and leaned in to whisper to Percy. “That’s Annabeth,” he told her, the smile he wore growing wider, a sparkle in his eyes. Estelle whispered again and Percy replied, “I agree with you on that one, Stella.” Another whisper and he bounced her a little in his arms before saying, “You’ll have to ask the pretty lady that one yourself.”

The girl pulled back from her brother and looked at the other three in turn before finally settling on Annabeth again. Her voice was small, shy, as she asked, “Will you come to my birthday party, please?”

“Of course,” Annabeth told her without hesitation. There was no refusing those big, pleading eyes, but just as quick Annabeth realized a four year old wasn’t entirely in control of her own party guest lists and assuming it was alright was rude. Annabeth flashed Sally an apologetic look, knowing the potentially uncomfortable position the mother had just been put in if the answer needed to be no.

“Sounds like a wonderful idea to me,” Sally thankfully said. “Although if you keep getting in trouble at school we might not have much of a party at all.”

“In trouble at school?” Percy repeated, turning from his mother back to his sister.

Hazel crossed her arms and nodded. Annabeth could tell she was struggling to keep the stern look she wore on her face, amusement fighting to break through. “Are you going to tell Percy what you did today, Stella?”

Estelle, even with her limited four year old sense of shame, averted her eyes from all the adults now watching her. “I punched Lucas in the penis.”

Annabeth barked a laugh before she could think better of it, slapping a hand over her mouth and feeling embarrassed instantly. Thankfully the amusement so perilously concealed on Hazel’s face was now blatantly apparent, Sally was trying to smother a smirk and Percy was absolutely beaming with pride. Little Estelle, who was clearly aware she’d done something wrong, remained oblivious to the fact the adults around her didn’t actually seem mad at all.

“Why did you punch Lucas in the penis?” Percy asked her, turning that one thousand megawatt smile on Annabeth and making it increasingly difficult for her to contain the laughter still only precariously kept bay.

Estelle looked up at her brother, her bottom lip turned down in a pout. “He wouldn’t stop pulling my hair.”

Percy looked at his mother, then at Hazel, and finally back to Estelle. “Sounds like a valid reason to me,” he told her and the child’s expression morphed into a hesitant grin.

“We don’t punch people because they’re pulling our hair, Percy,” Sally chastised, and Annabeth had the distinct impression she’d said those words to him many times over the course of his life. “We use our words and find an adult if the other person won’t listen.”

In a stage whisper to his sister Percy said, “And sometimes we just have to punch them in the penis.”

“I apologize for my son,” Sally told Annabeth, only to look back at Percy with the expression of both endearment and admonishment exclusive to mothers. “I can’t imagine what you think of how I’ve raised him.”

Annabeth studied Percy, standing there with his sister in his arms, looking at the little girl like the sun rose and set with her and her alone. They were mumbling to each other, all of Estelle’s earlier remorse replaced with returned adoration for her brother. “I don’t know, Ms. Jackson, I think you did pretty well,” she said, knowing full well the tenderness in her own voice betrayed the understatement.

Percy glanced at Annabeth, their eyes locking, and they both stared. Butterflies took flight in her stomach and her heart began to race. Before she had a chance to think, to realize, how those sea green eyes that had enchanted her from the very moment she met him were as full of love as her own pounding heart was, Percy turned his attention back to Estelle. “I should take this little devil up and get her to take that nap we ruined.”

“Thank you,” Hazel said with a relieved sigh, her hand rubbing her jaw where Annabeth assumed Estelle had kicked her. “If she punches the way she kicks, I feel bad for that Lucas kid.”

As he moved toward the stairs, Percy stopped to give Annabeth a peck on the lips. “Sorry, shouldn’t be long,” he said softly. 

Annabeth shook her head. “Take your time.”

“Since you’re all here, I might as well make something fresh for dinner,” Sally said, once Percy was carrying Estelle up the stairs. “You’ll stay to eat, right?”

They did stay. 

Annabeth forgot about the coffee stain on her sweater. Sally told stories and laughed the most beautiful laugh Annabeth had ever heard. Eventually Estelle woke back up and told Annabeth all about her current favorite cartoon, _The Lion Guard_ , which Percy, Leo and Hazel apparently watched even when Estelle was not around. After dinner, Hazel took Annabeth down into the converted basement space she used as a painting studio and showed off a few of the pieces she was most proud of. When Leo stumbled in from his evening at the lab he seemed excited to find the house full and lively, and also to discover a relatively fresh home cooked meal. 

It was late when Sally and Estelle finally called it a night and said their goodbyes. At the door, Estelle pulled Annabeth down into a hug and whispered, “You’re pretty,” in her ear.

“Not nearly as pretty as you are,” Annabeth replied in a matching whisper, earning a pleased grin and pink cheeks.

Leo and Hazel insisted it was too late for Annabeth and Percy to bother leaving after that, and they seemed excited to have Annabeth finally hang out there with them after Percy’s many nights away. The group ate the blue chocolate chip cookies Sally had left for them and played _Mario Kart_ until Annabeth was so tired her eyes hurt and her thumb was cramping from holding her remote. Hazel was disturbingly good at the game, coming in first in almost every race and making the boys increasingly huffy about their constant losses. Annabeth was a little annoyed by how poor her own performance was, but she hadn’t played in years and insisted she would at least be better than Percy or Leo with enough practice.

“You’ll have to come over more often to train,” Hazel said, after what had to have been her fiftieth win of the night.

“Yeah, _Mario Kart_ training is definitely going to be my main motivator for coming around,” Annabeth teased. Even if she never played again, Annabeth fully intended to spend more time there at the brownstone.

When the couple finally retired for the night, Annabeth stole one of Percy’s t-shirts for something to sleep in and Hazel provided her with a spare toothbrush. Percy fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, exhausted from a busy day and the wonderful surprises they’d been faced with. Annabeth laid in bed next to him for a long time, unable to fall asleep despite her own exhaustion, but content just to watch the steady rise and fall of his chest. In the dark, with Percy deep asleep and at no risk of being disturbed, Annabeth found just the tiniest bit of courage.

“I love you,” she whispered, and she found she very much liked the way the words felt on her tongue.

It was the following Sunday afternoon, back in Annabeth’s apartment, when her weeks of being too stubborn and scared to admit her own feelings finally came to a head.

Piper and Jason were at his place for the day. As it was his only day off, Annabeth had given Percy the choice of what he wanted to do, and he’d decided to sit around together watching the original _Star Wars_ trilogy, which was probably the least surprising thing he’d ever wanted to do together. Annabeth didn’t mind. She could relax on the couch with her sketchpad and only half pay attention while he enjoyed his lazy day and they both reveled in the simplicity of each other’s company.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Percy said, lightly slapping Annabeth’s legs, which were draped across his lap as she reclined. “You have to watch this, it’s the best part.”

Annabeth, who’d seen the movies plenty of times over the years, glanced up at the television. They were toward the end of _The Empire Strikes Back._ She recognized the scene immediately and knew exactly what was about to happen. It was, after all, about as iconic as a movie scene could get. Percy was so excited about it, though. She decided to indulge him and set aside her pad for a few minutes.

Her eyes were drawn to him more than the screen. His boyish grin made her feel giddy, his enjoyment more entertaining to her than what was on the TV ever could be. The way his lips twitched in time with the dialog told her he had it memorized, and she wondered just how many times he’d watched these films. It wasn’t the first time she’d caught him following along over the course of those first two movies, either. His eyes shone as the scene progressed, up to the climax when Princess Leia finally confessed her love and Han Solo simply replied, “ _I know_.”

Percy dropped his head back against the couch and let out a sigh Annabeth could only classify as dreamy. He looked over at her smiling. “That is by far the most romantic moment in all of film history.”

Annabeth could, off the top of her head, think of at least a dozen moments in film she found significantly more romantic than the one they’d just watched, but she couldn’t bring herself to argue with him when he looked so happy about it. “You’re ridiculous,” she told him instead.

His smile grew a little wider and he reached across the couch for her hand. “I know,” he said, his voice declaring a heavy double meaning.

“So you admit you’re ridiculous?” Annabeth retorted, challenging him, though she scooted down the couch toward him when he gave her hand a little tug.

“No,” he answered, slipping his arms around her waist once she was close enough. 

Her arms slipped over his shoulders in return. “What do you know, then?”

“What do you think I know?” he asked back, brushing his nose against hers.

“I have no idea,” she teased, trying to ignore the way her heart rate was rising by tipping her head to catch his lips.

Percy dodged her attempt to kiss him. “I think you do.”

“Watching movies all morning has made you loopy,” Annabeth said, hoping he didn’t sense the unevenness of her breathing, coming unbidden in response to her quickened pulse.

“ _You_ make me loopy,” he replied, laughing.

“Poor Seaweed Brain,” she said, laying the feigned pity on thick in her voice and expression. To really sell the act, she began to shift her legs off of him, making like she was going to pull away entirely and get up. “I should give you some space, then. I’ll go finish this sketch in my room.”

His hands responded instantly, strong and commanding. One shifted her hips back toward him and held her still, the other arm curling around her waist and lifting her properly into his lap. “Are you really not going to say it?” he demanded. “I’ve been waiting all weekend.”

“Did you make me watch _Star Wars_ just so you could get all excited about this scene and trick me into saying I love you?” she asked, equal parts incredulous and amused.

“I wasn’t trying to _trick_ you,” he replied, which was as good as a confession. “I was giving you the perfect, romantic opening.”

Annabeth pulled herself in closer, hovering an inch away from his lips. “You’re absolutely ridiculous.”

This time it was he who tried to kiss her and she who dodged. “Say it,” he pleaded.

“You’re a vampire,” she whispered, barely able to hold back her own laughter. Clearly he made her a little loopy too, because with every passing second her heart and head felt like they were more likely to completely float away.

“Beth,” Percy replied, and from the twitch of his lips and the way his eyes were sparkling she could tell he was trying just as hard not to laugh.

“You first,” Annabeth told him, ready to play this game the whole afternoon if he wanted.

He didn’t want to. “I love you.”

Hearing the words aloud made her huff a small, airy breath she felt like she’d been holding for weeks. Her happiness was so overwhelming she couldn’t stop herself from giving him the stupid moment he so desperately craved. “I know,” she whispered and that was all he could take – Percy kissed her and this time she didn’t bother dodging him.

The movie finished in the background as they kissed, entirely forgotten. The end of _Empire_ was certainly exciting, but Annabeth didn’t care about it when Percy’s lips were so hungry, and her heart so light from the relief of finally confessing her love. Long after the credits had played through Annabeth broke away and looked at him, her entire body hot and ready to be stripped down. She could see the same desire in his eyes, but she had one more thing to say. 

“I’m tired of hands,” she breathed, brushing her thumb against his red and swollen bottom lip. “I want this mouth.”

Percy shuddered and Annabeth felt it all the way to her core.

They lay together in Annabeth’s bed, probably close to an hour later, though Annabeth hadn’t been keeping track. Percy was on his back, her resting on his chest as she gazed up at him while he played with her loose curls. Countless times over the course of the last hour they’d repeated those three little words Annabeth had been so terrified of. Now they came easily, lived there on the tip of her tongue and threatened to jump out of her mouth without warning.

“When did you know?” Annabeth asked, reaching up to brush the pads of her fingers against his lips. Those lips had done things she’d hardly even dreamed of, and done them eagerly, too. 

Percy smiled at her, the groggy smile that never really left his face after sex and made heat begin to pool in the pit of her stomach all over again. “That I loved you or that you loved me?”

“The second one,” she answered.

“Valentine’s Day,” he told her, shifting a little beneath her, getting more comfortable. “When we were up in our room during the wedding, when I told you I would wait a lifetime for you, and you smiled. You’d never smiled at me like that before.”

Annabeth laughed, staring at him in complete awe. “I barely even knew then. I definitely wasn’t ready to admit it.” 

“And when did you know?” Percy asked, a slight challenge in his eyes. “That I loved you, I mean.”

She considered the question, brushing her lips against his chest to give her mouth something to do instead of talking. “The night I came back from San Francisco,” she finally told him, voice barely above a whisper. “When I met you, Piper and Jason at the airport. It was terrifying, and I told myself it was crazy, but… I knew. You looked at me across that airport and I thought, _This man loves me_.”

“Oh, yeah,” Percy confirmed, nodding. “That was the day I knew I was a goner. I would have walked to San Francisco to bring you home if I’d had to, and probably would have gotten into a lot of trouble along the way.”

“You know the reason I had Piper call you was because I was worried you’d do something crazy if you heard me crying, right?” she asked, her tone teasing despite the fact it was completely true.

“You are the smartest person I’ve ever known,” he replied. “I probably would have.”

Annabeth tilted her head down again, pressing another kiss against his still hot skin. “I love you.”

When she looked back at him, his eyes had darkened. “Can I ask one more thing?”

“Anything,” she told him earnestly.

“Where the fuck did you learn to do that with your mouth?”

She laughed, rolling onto her back next to him while she got the giggles out of her system. Waiting for her answer, he rolled over to switch their positions, hovering above her. After a few deep breaths she cleared her throat. “I was nervous about it, so I did a lot of research the last few weeks. I wasn’t sure how well it would translate into real world application, but I’m happy to hear my efforts were fruitful.”

“Fruitful,” he repeated, nodding slowly. “Well, you’re welcome to experiment with further real world applications at your leisure.”

One leg hooked around him and Annabeth used her weight to flip them back into their original arrangement, though this time she pushed herself up on her arms and hovered over his abdomen. “You’re going to regret making that offer,” she teased, letting her lips brush along the tense muscles beneath her.

“Yeah, I really don’t think so,” Percy replied, his voice already gruff and dripping with want.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> before you yell at me for that fade to black!! i would like to direct you [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24710860/chapters/63774547). ok ty. ♥


	56. Chapter 56

“We’re going to Montauk for Spring Break,” Annabeth told Piper as soon as she arrived home from class on the Monday before said Spring Break was set to begin. They hadn’t made plans for the week. Usually they just played it by ear, hit parties in the city or took last minute trips wherever they felt so inclined to go, filled the time with whatever felt right for them in the moment. “It’ll be cold and possibly miserably wet, but we’re going.”

Piper was on her laptop, working on a speech for an upcoming presentation, while Jason was sprawled next to her on the couch trying to get some reading done. “Who’s we?” she asked as Annabeth took a seat across from them.

“Us,” Annabeth said, signaling between the three of them, “Percy, Hazel, Leo, and–” she paused, looking at Piper, then at Jason, with what could only be described as complete, giddy excitement, “– _Frank_.”

Jason shot straight up. “What?”

Annabeth looked pleased that the dramatic reveal had been effective, sitting back in her chair with her chin held high. “Frank Zhang,” she repeated. “Your nephew. Is coming to Montauk with us.”

“Annabeth, I think I know who my own nephew is,” Jason replied flatly, sitting slowly back down on the couch. “What do you mean he’s going on this trip with… apparently us?”

Piper had to resist the urge to laugh. The fact Frank was Jason’s nephew was still genuinely hysterical to her. It wasn’t even the weirdest family connection she’d ever heard of (seriously, going to school for seven years with a bunch of rich, snooty kids had resulted in Piper hearing some weird shit), but Frank was about three inches taller than Jason and much broader in the shoulders. If someone had told her Frank was the uncle and Jason the nephew, it would have been more believable and a lot less laughable, even though Jason was older.

Delight sparkled in Annabeth’s eyes as she began to tell the story. Piper couldn’t remember the last time Annabeth had spoken about anything with such unadulterated joy and enthusiasm that wasn’t both a building and constructed at least a century before. “Today at lunch Percy mentioned they – meaning Hazel, Leo and him – usually go to his family’s cabin up there for break and very casually suggested I join them, which I, of course, agreed to immediately. He then mentioned the two of you should tag along too, and I promised to ask. All of this was very normal. Percy can only spare a few days out of the pool, since Division Championships are the weekend after next, so it won’t be the whole week, but still. It’ll be fun.

“Anyway,” she continued, stopping only to take a deep breath, “we had started making some preliminary plans when Frank finally arrived. Hazel got all nervous and kept glancing at Frank, and then at Percy, and back at Frank, the way she does most days. It’s like she’s waiting for _Percy_ to whack Frank on the back of the head and tell him to ask her out. Again, this is very normal. What wasn’t normal, though, was how in the middle of Frank apologizing for being late and explaining why he was, Hazel exploded and asked the giant oaf if he’d come along to Montauk, too.”

“No,” Jason gasped, his eyes growing wide. 

Never, in a thousand years, would Piper have expected her best friend and boyfriend to act like such shameless gossips, but there they were. It had been almost two months since Annabeth and Jason had put together that Frank and Hazel were _very much_ into each other, but both too shy to admit it to anyone. Piper knew Annabeth had been trying to gently nudge the two of them in each other’s directions in their shared class and over the lunches they’d started having together three days a week. Likewise, Jason had been encouraging Frank subtly when he could get away with it and not seem too suspicious, but Frank had never said anything explicit about his feelings to Jason and Jason didn’t want to risk scaring Frank off by letting on that he knew anything. Their attempts had, as of yet, been unsuccessful.

All of them had hoped something might happen between the oblivious pair after Frank’s obvious confession of a song at karaoke, but Annabeth and Percy had reported the two had gone more or less back to their normal, awkward status. It was exciting for them to see Hazel make such a big move, and Frank accept the invitation to come along, but still weird for the gossiping to come from Jason and Annabeth nonetheless.

“Yes,” Annabeth confirmed, barely able to sit still from how excited she was. “Hazel immediately started acting like it was because the whole group was going, and that everyone had wanted Frank there too, which wasn’t _wrong_ , because we all adore Frank, but we hadn’t at all discussed asking him. Obviously we would have, but I kind of wanted to wring her neck for not just admitting she was the one who wanted him there most.”

“So,” Jason said, his grin barely contained, “we’re going to Montauk for Spring Break. With Frank.”

“And Hazel,” Annabeth added.

Both of them looked at Piper and she blinked back. “What? Of course. I’m in.”

“You’re going to help, right?” Jason asked and Annabeth’s head bobbed erratically in a nod.

“Help with what?” Piper asked, though she had a sinking feeling they were about to drag her straight into their meddling. While Piper had been happy to listen to them talk about their adventures in match making, and give advice here or there, she’d otherwise stayed out of it herself.

Annabeth held up one index finger, said, “Frank,” held up the other, said, “Hazel,” and then slowly moved her two fingers together until they touched.

“I barely know Frank,” Piper objected, looking from Annabeth to Jason, “and, while I definitely like her, I don’t know Hazel at all. I wouldn’t even know where to begin helping.”

Piper loved meddling. It had been her greatest joy to date pushing Annabeth toward Percy, but meddling had its limits. Meddling had to be subtle (although, admittedly, with Annabeth it had not been, but that was a completely different story because Annabeth’s head was solid rock). With two parties as shy and reserved as Frank and Hazel, meddling needed to be secret or it would scare them off. Secret meddling required information, some level of trust between the meddler and meddlees, if it was going to work. Should things went wrong, it could ruin their chances entirely.

“Ugh,” Piper finally groaned, throwing her pencil at Jason, who was looking at her with an expression so pitiful it melted all her resolve. Damn her weak heart and his stupid, adorable scar. “Fine. I’ll help. I just can’t promise how effective it’ll be. Don’t blame me if it blows up in our faces.”

And, so, four days later, Piper found herself piling into the back of Percy’s car – she refused to call it Bessie and found it unbelievable that Annabeth, _Annabeth Chase_ , did so without a single hint of irony – along with Jason and Annabeth to head out for a Spring Break trip that would be cold, possibly miserably wet, and jam packed with meddling she wasn’t even sure would accomplish anything.

“Leo said he’d go straight into town to get us groceries and drinks to last the weekend,” Percy told them, once they were on the road and headed out of the city. “He’s a killer cook, so we’ll be eating great all weekend. I told him you’re vegetarian too, Piper, don’t worry. He’s been making veg options for and with Grover for years. He once made tofu tacos that were so good I didn’t realize they were tofu until he told me. Honestly, I felt a little betrayed, but we managed to recover from it.”

Piper knew only of Percy’s oldest friend Grover through Annabeth, but nodded in understanding. He was trying to make her feel like she wasn’t putting anyone out and she did appreciate that gesture. “Cool, I’ll look forward to it.”

“We should have bugged Leo’s car,” Jason mumbled, turning in the cramped back seat to try and see the car in question in traffic behind them. Hazel and Frank were riding along with him, and Jason and Annabeth were eager to know if it was painfully awkward or if they were managing to have a half decent conversation. 

“Wouldn’t it have been a better idea to have the two of them ride in _this_ car, with you two? And us with Leo?” Piper asked with a glance between Percy and Annabeth. The look of horror on Annabeth’s face told Piper the thought hadn’t even occurred to them. No wonder they hadn’t managed to get Frank and Hazel together yet.

“We’ll just have to wait until we get to the cabin to know if anything happened,” Percy replied with a heavy sigh, clearly kicking himself for this failure.

Annabeth heaved a heavy sigh of her own, turning to look out the rear window the way Jason had been doing only seconds before. “And pray Leo doesn’t blow our plans up in smoke in the next hour.”

While Piper didn’t know Leo nearly as well as either of them, she couldn’t help laughing.

The cabin Percy’s family owned was small, probably too small to realistically house seven people, but it was also adorable and they were going to make it work. Much to Piper’s chagrin, they’d agreed not to couple off for sleeping arrangements. There were only two rooms, so Jason and Frank were taking one, the girls the other, and Percy and Leo had agreed to sleep on the pull out couch together. They said they’d done that a lot over the years. It made sense, but Piper would have preferred to have nights alone with Jason, especially with how chilly the place was.

As promised, Leo disappeared immediately after they’d arrived to go do their shopping. Hazel had offered to tag along, but he’d insisted she stay and help get all the other guests settled. It was a little curious how both Percy and Leo acted from the moment they arrived as if the cabin was as much Hazel’s as it was theirs. To them, she belonged there the same way they did.

More than once Piper found herself glancing at Jason, trying to parse his opinion on that relationship dynamic, considering Hazel’s actual brother, Nico, was practically family to him. From what she could tell, Jason and Hazel barely knew each other. That much had been obvious at Percy’s swim meet and the subsequent karaoke outing. They were friendly enough, but in a stiff and awkward way that told her neither was entirely sure of the other, like they had merely orbited each other for years and didn’t know what to make of their suddenly being thrown together so intimately.

Considering what Jason had told Piper about his relationship with Nico, she both understood their awkwardness completely and not at all. It made sense that they might have only seen each other at formal, social affairs hosted by their respective parents. Jason had spent so much time visiting Nico, though, and Piper didn’t understand how he wouldn’t have become more familiar with Hazel during those same visits. Nico and Hazel were the same age. From what Piper discerned, they were fairly close, to the point they went out for weekly dinner dates. Hazel was on the more reserved side, and so was Jason, but neither of them were so shy that they wouldn’t have at least acted friendly when they encountered each other.

Probably none of this should have bothered Piper as much as it did, and she hoped whatever weird vibe she was getting from the two of them was just some fluke thing inspired by unfamiliarity. Hopefully over the weekend they would become more comfortable with each other and by the time they headed back to the city all would be well. This seemed especially important if Frank and Hazel were going to be an item.

“So is Percy a half decent teacher?” Jason asked, when the group had all deposited their bags in the appropriate rooms and congregated back in the small living room to relax while they waited for Leo (and the food and alcohol he would have in tow). Jason and Piper were stuffed into an over sized armchair, Piper already taking every opportunity presented to her to make up for the lack of Jason she was going to be suffering the next few nights. Percy had retrieved some firewood from the cabin’s shed and the room was quickly becoming cozily warm, filling with the sharp scent of burning wood and smoke.

Annabeth, who was curled up next to Percy on couch, answered, “No,” with complete nonchalance.

“Hey!” Percy cried, though he was smiling and Hazel was already laughing her bubbly, giggly laugh.

“I haven’t learned a single thing,” Annabeth teased, pulling Percy’s arm tighter around her even as she said it.

“I don’t think it’s Percy’s fault if you’re spacing out the whole hour staring at him, Annabeth,” Piper interjected. Her best friend shrugged, not at all denying what they all knew was true. Piper hoped, watching Percy and Annabeth snuggled up together so naturally, that she never got used to the happiness seeing Annabeth so content brought her.

“I think he’s a pretty good teacher,” Frank offered hesitantly. He was seated on the floor next to Hazel, their backs to the fireplace, though the four inches between them might as well have been the Grand Canyon with how deliberately they were avoiding even letting their fingers brush. Piper wondered how two people could be simultaneously so aware of each other and still so oblivious.

Percy reached across the coffee table to give Frank a fist bump. “Frank is my best student, by far. Much better than this slacker,” he said, motioning to Annabeth with his chin and earning an elbow in the ribs.

“How long have the two of you been dating?” Hazel asked, turning her attention to Piper and Jason. Again Piper noticed a flicker of the awkwardness between Jason and Hazel, and slowly she was beginning to wonder if it went deeper than just not being familiar with each other.

Piper exchanged a smile with Jason and he answered, “Wednesday was two _official_ months, but it’s been almost three since our first date.” Three absolutely insane months, but they had been the best months of Piper’s life.

Hazel covered her heart with one hand and sighed dreamily. “It must be nice.” 

Everyone noticed the way Hazel and Frank glanced at each other then, and the way their heads turned instantly in opposite directions. Piper could say everyone noticed because there were several knowing glances exchanged in the following seconds. If they were simultaneously this obvious and this oblivious, Piper thought meddling might be easier than she’d anticipated. She also wondered how Percy and Annabeth had managed to have lunch with the two of them three times a week the whole semester without giving in and bonking Hazel and Frank’s dumb, cute heads together.

“Have you done much dating, Hazel?” Piper decided to ask, using her most casual tone and focusing attention on adjusting the collar of Jason’s shirt.

“Not really,” Hazel replied glumly, her nose wrinkling. “Only… only the once.”

Percy snorted. “The week and half you and Leo spent standing awkwardly next to each other and not even holding hands barely counts, Haze.”

“It was more than a week and a half!” Hazel objected, though she didn’t deny the other points. Poor Frank looked like his eyes were going to pop out of his skull at any second.

“It sure _felt_ like a year,” Percy replied, completely missing the stink eye Annabeth was giving him. He didn’t miss the pillow Hazel then threw at him, though.

“Sorry,” Hazel mumbled to Annabeth, who had been caught in the crossfire.

“No, thank you for doing it,” Annabeth replied to Hazel, though her eyes were locked on her boyfriend. Piper caught Annabeth mouthing the words, _not helping_ , to him when Hazel had looked away.

Before any further damage could be done on the Frank and Hazel front, the front door burst open, though Piper kind of wished it had stayed shut permanently – apparently the only person with less sense than Percy Jackson was Leo Valdez.

“Hey everybody,” Leo started, an awkward chuckle in his voice as he glanced at Hazel, then at Percy. His hair and clothes were wet from the rain that had started coming down in sheets shortly after he left. No, not just wet, _soaked through_ , like he’d been standing out in it for an extended period of time. “Guess who I ran into on my way back?”

Leo didn’t get a chance to answer before a girl stepped in the door behind him – a stunning, round face; delicate almond eyes; caramel colored hair draped over one shoulder in a braid that remained pristine even with water weighing it down; Leo’s army jacket covering the soaked through white t-shirt beneath it. She looked around the group with a hint of fear in her warm brown eyes, scanning each face before finally settling on Percy and swallowing hard.

“Cal?” Hazel asked. Piper could tell she was trying to smother a smile, happy to see this young woman but worriedly looking between the new arrival and Percy. Still, Hazel jumped to her feet and fluttered over, taking the grocery bags out of Cal’s hands. “You’re soaked to the bone. Come on, I’ll get you a change of clothes.”

Piper didn’t watch the two disappear down the hall, instead keeping her eyes on where Annabeth and Percy sat on the couch. Percy was glaring at Leo, Annabeth staring at Percy with an expression Piper had never seen and very much disliked. They didn’t need to look at each other for Piper to know Annabeth had come to the exact same conclusion as to who this new arrival was. 

Leo had just waltzed one of Percy’s ex-girlfriends into the middle of their Spring Break weekend.


	57. Chapter 57

“Leo,” Percy said, his voice strained, “I’ll help you with the groceries.”

Annabeth wanted to stop him, but she was too stunned to think of anything to say. She also kind of _didn’t_ want to stop him, because stopping him would mean putting to words all the madness already beginning to storm in her head. It had happened so quickly. The entrance of a very beautiful young woman, Percy suddenly tensing, and Hazel’s surprised question of “Cal?” Then Percy was walking out the front door with a very rain soaked Leo and Annabeth was left sitting on the couch with her mouth hanging agape and her mind on overdrive.

Over the last month Annabeth and Percy had not discussed his former relationships in depth. Annabeth knew he’d had them – two girlfriends, one in high school and the other the summer before college, and a handful of dates and flings in the years since his last serious relationship – but didn’t know any details and didn’t particularly want to. If, of course, he’d wanted to share, she would have gladly listened to anything he was compelled to confide. He had done as much for her. There had been no indication he wanted to share, though, and that had been fine by Annabeth. His past girlfriends and experiences in dating were of no particular importance to her. 

Except when one of those past girlfriends showed up drenched from the rain at the cabin where she and Percy were planning to spend the weekend with their friends. That, Annabeth was sure, was what had just transpired.

Annabeth’s first horrible thought was, _holy shit, she’s beautiful_. Everything about Cal was delicate and ethereal, from the shape of her face to the way she carried herself as she followed Hazel back into cabin, even though she was dripping wet from rain. Without meaning to, or wanting to, Annabeth’s mind immediately started cataloging comparisons. More specifically, her mind started listing all the ways she simply didn’t stack up against such a stunning human being.

She noticed all three remaining sets of eyes were on her. Even Frank looked like he’d caught on to the situation and was cautiously gauging Annabeth’s reaction. Being stared at never sat well with Annabeth, even when it was her friends doing the staring – no, _especially_ when it was her friends doing the staring, with pitying looks of concern. Whatever was going on in her head was not going to resolve if she was the center of all their attention in that way.

“I need to go the bathroom,” Annabeth announced, refusing to meet Piper’s eye, and got up to do just that.

Of course she only made it to the bathroom door before she came face to face with Cal, who had a change of clothes from Hazel in hand and had apparently been headed into the bathroom herself. “Sorry,” they both said at once, then froze.

Annabeth was taller, though it didn’t make her feel any better about how pretty the other woman was. If anything, it somehow made her feel worse. Her mind decided to torture itself with thoughts like, _Percy must have liked how small she felt in his arms_ , and, _They would look so perfect together, like they came right out of a magazine spread_. Those were not thoughts she wanted to entertain and she knew giving them a foothold in her mind was a dangerous and slippery slope to completely irrational jealousy. Cal was someone Percy had broken up with. No matter how pretty Cal was, there was also a reason they weren’t together anymore. Looking at the other woman, the way her eyes sparkled with hints of gold even in the low light of the hallway and how thick her eyelashes were, Annabeth couldn’t imagine what that reason could possibly be.

“You need to change, go ahead,” Annabeth forced out, trying to ignore her thoughts and signaling for Cal to take the bathroom.

“No,” Cal quickly replied. “No. I can change in the bedroom, you need it more. Please.”

The bathroom was needed as an escape, not for actual bathroom business, but Cal didn’t know that and Annabeth wasn’t about to admit to it. So, she mumbled an awkward, “Thanks,” and slipped inside. Her fingers flipped the lock on the door and she took a steadying breath, thankful for the chance to be alone.

She hadn’t had need of the cabin’s single bathroom yet, so she distracted herself by taking a few seconds to survey her surroundings. The space was small, barely big enough for a single sink vanity, toilet, and bath-shower combination. It looked like it had recently been renovated, with a rustic theme that still matched the rest of the weathered and worn rooms in the cabin while being quite. Annabeth wondered if the Jackson-Blofis clan were planning to further renovate the whole house. She also wondered, with the hint of a smile, if maybe she’d be allowed to help when the time came.

As soon as the smile had pulled at her lips she remembered why she was in there and all the short lived, nervous excitement faded. 

It wasn’t fair to be mad at Percy. He hadn’t intended for this to happen. He probably hadn’t even anticipated it as a possibility. She knew Percy well enough to be sure he would have prepared her for running into his ex-girlfriend if he’d thought it was even remotely likely. Still, the irrational part of her was mad at him, even if she wasn’t entirely sure what for.

A light knock at the door, so faint it was probably just a single knuckle rapping against the wood, made Annabeth jump. “Beth?” Percy’s voice called. The use of that nickname was still new to her, and as much as she loved the affectionate way he called to her, she felt nothing but grumpy frustration.

“I’m almost done,” she lied. “I’ll be out in a minute.”

Percy didn’t reply for a few seconds and Annabeth thought he’d perhaps decided to let her be, then he jostled the doorknob and suddenly the bathroom door was open and he was slipping in through the smallest possible crack, wearing an apologetic grin. Apparently that lock was useless. It must not have been replaced during renovations.

Annabeth crossed her arms and glared at him to the very best of her ability. “What would you have done if I had actually been on the toilet?”

“Enjoyed taking a bold new step in our relationship,” he answered easily. If his shoulders hadn’t been tensed Annabeth would have thought he was completely unbothered. “It’s not like I’d be at risk of seeing anything I haven’t before, anyway.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t deny girls go the bathroom,” she found herself teasing. It was easier to tease than to think about what she was feeling, especially since he had set the tone. She would maybe need to talk to Dr. Brunner about how that was always her default reaction in uncomfortable situations.

“I grew up with a single mom, have a little sister, and live with Hazel,” he told her, his smile growing despite the continued strain in his shoulders. “I know exactly how gross girls can be.”

She had to look away from him, because if she looked at that smile for a second longer she’d have to smile too and she wasn’t ready to not be irrationally mad at him. “Hazel doesn’t seem like the type who’d be especially gross.”

“Oh, she’s plenty gross,” Percy assured her, the amusement heavy in his voice. “We’re not in here to talk about Hazel’s bathroom habits, though.”

A few thoughts were floating around in Annabeth’s mind as she turned her eyes back to him. First, he was keeping his distance, giving her space even in the cramped bathroom. She appreciated that. She didn’t want to be touched, especially because his touch always held so much power over her. Second, he had come straight to her after talking with Leo. His hair was damp, his shoulders spattered with raindrops. He must have been cold, and the living room was much warmer. He could have just waited for her out there, not suffered the cold while also suffering this uncomfortable confrontation. Third, she realized his expression was pained, contrite. He felt guilty.

Annabeth took a deep breath and told him, “I know you didn’t mean for this to happen. We don’t need to talk, I just needed a few minutes to collect myself.”

“If you need me to, I’ll tell Leo to take her home,” Percy offered, and though the resolve in his voice told her he meant it, she could also tell he wasn’t looking forward to having that conversation with his brother. The fact that he would, for her sake, had her heart aching. “He’s an idiot for bringing her, but he… Well, I can’t really blame him for it.”

“Why not?” Annabeth asked, her arms curling a little tighter around her own body. It really was cold.

“He’s in love with her, has been for a long time,” Percy answered simply, shrugging.

Annabeth paused, letting that information sink in. In that context, looking at Percy, she found she couldn’t entirely blame Leo, either. She’d be willing to do some pretty stupid things if those stupid things were for Percy’s sake, or even just to be close to him. Then a thought occurred to her and she couldn’t help asking, “Did you know? When you were with her, I mean.”

The way Percy hung his head told Annabeth all she needed to know, but he answered anyway. “Yeah. It’s the shittiest thing I’ve ever done and I’ve always regretted it. I told you a lot was going on with me sophomore year, that was why I never talked to you? Part of it, a big part, was that Leo and I had just worked our way through a rough patch and I didn’t want to risk doing anything that might mess things up again.”

“Because you dated Cal,” Annabeth supplied.

“No, because I broke up with her,” Percy corrected with a small laugh. “Leo never once complained the summer Cal and I were together, but he got really pissed at me when I broke up with her. We were still living with Mom and Dad back then, sharing a room and everything, but he barely said two words to me for close to a year.”

Selfish curiosity got the better of her, even though she likely wouldn’t have wanted to know otherwise. “Why did you break up?”

Percy took a deep breath, his eyes becoming distant and a little tumultuous while he thought back to several summers past. “I told her it was because I wasn’t sure I could handle dating someone who didn’t live in the city. School and swimming would demand most of my time. I wouldn’t be able to come out to visit her and she would be too busy with her family’s business to visit me.”

“That’s what you told her,” Annabeth repeated, rubbing her hands over her forearms to create a little warmth. “It’s not the real reason, though.”

He smiled, a little bitterly, a little fondly. The bitterness for the memories, the fondness for Annabeth catching onto his implication. “Being with Cal would have been easy. It would have made sense, even, at least to other people. After one summer together I could perfectly picture the whole life we’d live – here, in Montauk, after I finished school, a neat little house with a picket fence and big yard, two kids and three dogs, and I’d go off to work every morning while she stayed home, until we got old and gray and were buried side by side. I absolutely hated it.”

“You were afraid of commitment?” Annabeth asked, confused, her nose wrinkling in disbelief. Percy was, in her experience, someone who lived in extremes. He’d been pretty up front from the beginning of their relationship, before there even really was a relationship, that he was in it for the long haul. A fear of commitment didn’t really fit into her picture of him.

“I wasn’t afraid of the commitment,” Percy replied, chuckling a little, like the notion was silly. Even Annabeth could admit it was. “I just knew I didn’t want that life.”

“You didn’t want a happy, stable, rewarding life with a beautiful family?” she pressed, finding that even less believable than him fearing commitment itself. Percy loved his family. Percy had a good family. He was one of the only people she’d ever known who did.

“I didn’t wa–” he looked at her and paused, sighing and then holding out his arms. “Damn it, Annabeth, you’re shivering. Will you get over here?”

She hadn’t realized it, but her arms were wrapped as snugly around her torso as she could manage and she was, indeed, shivering. With a defeated sigh, she closed the short distance between them and buried her face in Percy’s warm chest. His arms came around her and the worst of the chill began to fade almost instantly. Annabeth took a deep breath of his familiar scent and closed her eyes.

As he picked back up his explanation, his chest rumbled against her cheek and she couldn’t help smiling, her early annoyance all but faded. “I didn’t want an easy, predictable life. The best things in my life always happened unexpectedly. Mom getting that job at the di Angelos’ and my meeting Hazel. Getting Paul as my homeroom teacher freshman year of high school, and Mom falling for him at our first parent conference. Even Estelle, they hadn’t been trying when Mom got pregnant. I knew I’d never really be happy with a life so… ordinary and predictable. Happy, stable, rewarding, yeah, but not ordinary and predictable.”

“Can you even have stable without ordinary and predictable?” she asked softly, surprised by how much the simple question scared her. Annabeth wanted stability more than anything. One of the things she loved most about Percy was how constant he was, his dependability. If Percy didn’t see stability in his future, she wasn’t sure what the future could hold for _them_.

Percy thought for a few seconds, his face nuzzling into her hair. She could feel the curls he was displacing from her pony tail being tugged loose, the warmth of his breath against her scalp, and those sensations had already become so comforting to her that she had half a mind to drag him out of that bathroom just to curl up in bed and call it a night. “What you have with Piper, do you consider that stable?”

“Yes,” she answered without hesitation. Piper was the only stable thing Annabeth had ever known, even with the various ups and downs they’d experienced over the years.

“Would you call it ordinary and predictable?” he added.

Annabeth laughed. “No. I definitely wouldn’t call it ordinary, and it’s anything but predictable.”

Just enough to look her in the eye, Percy pulled back. “I see myself building a life with you, Beth, not just settling into something typical and expected. A life I like to think we’d end up looking back on with a lot of pride. Granted, it would probably be a little messy, if the last couple months have been any indication, but it would be uniquely ours, something only we could have, and that would make it great.”

She tilted her head to hide her face in his chest again, trying and failing to contain a smile. He just had to use the word _building_. “I did say I wouldn’t mind a little mess, didn’t I?” she asked, remembering their first date, which had been the epitome of messy, but also wonderful in its own messed up way. That night would have been a disaster, but he’d stood by her, steadfast from the very beginning, and helped her through something most others would have run from.

Stability, she decided, was about weathering storms, not just finding ways to avoid them. Sometimes they were unavoidable. The very cabin they were staying in that weekend had stood since before either of them were born. It had faced hurricanes and not crumbled. It was imperfect and in need of repair, but those things were easy enough to fix with the right tools and a little time. Annabeth thought they’d done a pretty okay job already at laying the foundation for a relationship, a life, that would be capable of weathering storms. She could see why a life that was easy and safe would be undesirable in comparison.

“You did sign up for mess, yes,” Percy agreed. She was still hidden against his chest, but she could hear the smile in his voice.

Annabeth allowed herself another few seconds to cling to him, breathing deeply, and then she stepped back and gave Percy a decisive nod. “Don’t tell Leo to take her home. It’s dark and rainy and it just makes sense for them to stay now that they’re here.”

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“Yes,” she replied confidently, glad her own concerns about how awkward the evening was probably going to turn out weren’t impacting her resolve. “And we’re going to be considerate and not… flaunt ourselves in front of her. I know it’s been a few years, but it probably still hurts to see you with someone else. It would hurt me, in her shoes. As awkward as this is for us, for me, I’m sure it’s just as bad for Cal.”

“Flaunt ourselves,” Percy repeated with amusement. Knowing he didn’t have to send Leo off into the night and potentially cause a fight had relieved the tension in his shoulders and he smiled back at her with real ease. “What does flaunting ourselves look like? Maybe we should get it out of our systems before we go out there.”

“It’s never out of my system,” Annabeth told him, acting almost indifferent despite how painfully true those words were. Keeping her hands off him all night, and into the morning, was going to be a challenge at best, actually painful at worst. “And everyone is going to start worrying if we’re in here much longer.”

“Let them worry for a few minutes,” he said, the words playful and dangerous. Any objection that had been on her lips was silenced as he kissed her. Annabeth wrapped her arms around his neck, slipped her fingers into his still damp hair, and let Percy press her up against the bathroom wall. She supposed they could take a few minutes for themselves, considering they were giving up the rest of the night. It certainly helped dispel the remnants of her chill.


	58. Chapter 58

“If they’re taking this long and not breaking up, I’m going to kill them both,” Piper whispered to Jason, because she knew Annabeth and Percy were doing one of only two possible things in that bathroom – breaking up or getting it on. If Annabeth was making Piper _suffer_ like this while enjoying herself, well. That was worthy of capital punishment.

“Compared to only killing Percy if they break up?” Jason asked in a returned whisper, trying to smother a smile.

Piper nodded once. “Exactly.”

While the couple disappeared into the bathroom, Leo had finished bringing in groceries and changed into dry clothes, Cal and Hazel had returned from the bedroom, and the group had settled themselves back into a small half circle around the fireplace. This time Leo had taken the spot on the floor next to Frank, robbing Hazel of her chance to sit close, but oh so far away. Hazel and Cal were seated comfortably together on the couch, or as comfortably as was possible for Cal, all circumstances considered. Frank and Jason had heroically taken on the brunt of the conversation, after brief introductions, while Leo waited anxiously for Percy to return and Cal and Hazel answered questions.

Piper sat quietly and tried not to burn holes with her glare in the pajamas Hazel had loaned Cal, whispering to Jason occasionally but saying nothing loud enough for the group at large to hear. The last thing she wanted was to be a bitch to a stranger, but until she had more information about the way Annabeth was feeling, there would be no niceties observed. Probably that made her a bitch anyway, but Piper was pretending it did not.

“You live here in Montauk?” Frank had just asked Cal. He had spent a good chunk of time glaring at Leo for taking Hazel’s spot, something Piper respected greatly, but had since relaxed and returned to his usual, genial demeanor.

Cal nodded. “My whole life.” Her answers had all been short and to the point, only ever a handful of words. If Piper were in a more rational state of mind, she would have felt bad for the girl. Clearly Cal understood the uncomfortable situation she had walked into and, from the furtive glances she was throwing back toward the hall, was worried about what was happening between Percy and Annabeth, too. Piper wondered if Leo had warned her what she was about to walk into at all.

“Cal’s family owns a bed and breakfast up the road a little, The Golden Apple,” Hazel offered in Cal’s place. This had been the routine they’d established, Cal answering succinctly and Hazel expanding on it for her. “Sometimes we get here and discover something’s gone wrong with the cabin while we were away and we end up staying there until we can get it fixed. It’s almost tradition for us to spend a couple days at The Golden Apple every summer at this point. Cal makes the _best_ pancakes.”

“Mom makes the best pancakes,” Percy said, by way of announcing his arrival back in the living room and making every head turn toward him. “Cal’s are pretty good too, though.”

Annabeth was a step behind him and Piper immediately assessed the situation. Percy looked more or less the way Percy always did, hair ruffled, t-shirt a little wrinkly, a lopsided grin on his lips. Annabeth, though, had just freshly tied back her hair, had an uncharacteristically wrinkled blouse, and her cheeks were deeply flushed. They both looked satisfied. No breakup, so their days were officially numbered. Piper could only hope Jason would visit her in prison.

“Sorry, Cal, Percy’s right. Mom makes the best pancakes,” Leo agreed, the first time he had spoken since arriving back with the groceries. A look at Percy must have told him he wasn’t in trouble and he was quickly relaxing, a grin plastered across his face as he leaned back on his arms.

“The ones with blue M&Ms,” Percy suggested, coming around to sit on the arm of the sofa next to Hazel.

“No, but remember the time she chopped up some bacon and put it straight in them?” Leo offered, and this launched the group into a very serious, very in depth, discussion about pancakes, what classified as a pancake, and what did and did not belong in and on them.

While the others were distracted, Annabeth leaned over the back of the chair Piper and Jason were occupying. “Can I get a hand in the kitchen, Piper?” she asked casually, keeping her voice down so as not to disrupt the discussion.

Piper replied with her best glare, then kissed Jason on the cheek and joined Annabeth in the kitchen as requested. The pancake discussion was becoming ridiculously boisterous, mostly as Leo and Percy argued, but she kept her voice down anyway. “All’s good, I take it? And Cal’s staying?”

“All’s good and Cal’s staying, yes,” Annabeth confirmed, her tone clipped and signaling there would be no further discussion about whether Cal would stay or not. Piper couldn’t help thinking she would not have made the same decision in Annabeth’s shoes, but then Annabeth always had been the bigger person between the two of them. More than once this had worked in Piper’s favor.

Instead of debating the merits of Cal’s presence, Piper went on with scolding, since her suspicions had been confirmed. “And you left me hanging and worried while you had sex in the bathroom.”

Annabeth, who had been searching through the grocery bags on the counter to pull out plastic cups and search for booze – apparently she hadn’t just brought Piper in the kitchen to talk, they were actually supposed to be doing something – almost dropped a bag and stared back at Piper wide eyed. “We did not have _sex_ ,” she practically hissed. “We… made out a little. I’m pretty sure the walls in this cabin are thinner than the ones in our apartment. Something _you_ should keep in mind this weekend.”

“Ugh, I know, It’s the worst,” Piper complained with a heavy sigh and a distinct whine in her voice, coming around to help Annabeth collect the alcohol Leo had only just brought in shortly before.

“I asked you in to help me with all this,” Annabeth said, signaling to the array of bags, “but also so we could talk about our plans for the weekend. We can’t let tonight’s unexpected development derail us. Tonight we get wasted, right?”

“Sounds like a recipe for disaster, but sure,” Piper agreed with a shrug. “We’ll obviously need a drinking game.”

“Obviously,” Annabeth agreed, which was the first time in her life Annabeth Chase had ever agreed so readily to a drinking game. 

All of Piper’s (feigned) anger about being made to worry melted away and she _awwwed_ before wrapping her arm around Annabeth. “I bet you’d even play spin the bottle now.”

“Ew, definitely not,” Annabeth replied without hesitation, wrinkling her nose and pulling back. “Too many familial relations in this group, and too high odds I’d have to kiss Jason.” Piper took this as a win, considering the implication Annabeth might play were it not for those two points. It was not a game Piper particularly liked to play anymore, not now that she wasn’t a hormonal teenager trying to kiss people without being obvious about it, but it surely signaled the growth and healing Annabeth had experienced over the last couple months that it could ever even be an option.

“I’d say, with this group, _Never Have I Ever_ or _Most Likely_ would be our best bets for breaking the ice and getting Frank and Hazel to be less oblivious,” Piper offered after thinking for all of two seconds. Maybe more thought should have been put into it, but she was excited.

“Those are also the best bets for giving you alcohol poisoning,” Annabeth said with an unhelpful sarcastic tone. “Should be fun, then.”

“Hey, Pipes!” Jason called from the living room. “Do you and Annabeth want the usual on your pizza? Percy’s about to order and said I’ll get in trouble if I don’t ask.”

“He’s right,” Annabeth called back, grinning, “but yes, please!”

Piper slapped Annabeth’s arm and let out a cry of delight that had nothing to do with their pizza order. “I know what we should play first.”

Not ten minutes later they had managed to bring the liquor Leo had purchased into the living room, along with little plastic shot glasses – Piper was impressed Leo had thought of them and gave him a thumbs up for it, earning him a small degree of forgiveness for being an idiot and inviting Cal over. They pushed the couch and armchair against the living room walls so the group could circle around the coffee table on the floor. Twenty-one of those little plastic cups were filled with vodka and arranged in a circle on the table. Jason looked mildly terrified by the amount of alcohol, considering he didn’t really drink hard liquor at all, but he knew it was all in the name of meddling and held back any objections.

“The game,” Piper said, once everything was ready, their pizza still an hour or so out for delivery, “is called _Medusa_.”

She paused, letting the ominous name settle over the group for dramatic effect. It wasn’t a game she played often, mostly because it wasn’t conducive to getting especially drunk, and usually Piper played drinking games for that purpose and that purpose alone. Tonight they were trying to get Frank and Hazel to stop being adorable, oblivious little dorks, though. Piper hoped this game might get them off to a good start.

Once she was satisfied they were all adequately intrigued, she began the explanation. “Everyone closes their eyes and I’ll count to three. On three, you open your eyes and look at one other person. Try to look directly into their eyes, so there’s no doubt where you’re looking. If the other person is looking back at you, you both shout ‘Medusa!’ and take a shot. Whoever is slower has to take a second shot as punishment. We play until there are no more shots left, which probably won’t take long.”

“How do you win?” Frank asked, appraising the small cups arranged on the table. He didn’t look as horrified as Jason, but he was definitely cautious in the face of all those drinks.

“Usually in drinking games, you win by being the least drunk,” Annabeth supplied. “Piper disagrees and says the person _most_ drunk wins, but that’s because she’s usually the one who’s most drunk. You can decide for yourself.”

Piper clapped her hands and commanded, “Eyes closed!” She assumed everyone followed directions, though her own eyes were closed, and counted down from three.

Four voices chimed in with, “Medusa!” when eyes were open again – Piper and Annabeth, and Leo and Cal. They all scrambled for their shots. Piper was quicker than Annabeth, who cursed under her breath and took her second drink. Leo and Cal were both slower than either of them, but Leo was the faster of that pair, which left Cal to sigh and begrudgingly take her second shot.

“Should we be disappointed they weren’t looking at us?” Percy asked Jason, with an eyebrow raised, in response to Piper and Annabeth having chosen each other for the first round.

Jason laughed. “Not sure what you were expecting. I didn’t even try, but Frank wasn’t looking at me, either.”

Piper’s eyes flashed conspiratorially at Jason beside her, then to Annabeth and Percy across the table. While Piper had been setting the game up, they’d devised a plan in whispers. Yes, it was kind of cheating. No, Piper didn’t care. They’d agreed to alternate turns looking at Hazel and Frank to gauge how often the two problem children were looking at each other. Jason and Percy took odd numbered rounds, Annabeth and Piper even numbered, with their assignments being Frank and Hazel respectively. If any of them got caught, they’d swap assignments until someone got caught again, to hopefully avoid making either Frank or Hazel suspicious. 

The four of them really did make a killer team. Or they were super overthinking things and none of it would matter in the end. Piper chose to believe they were a killer team, mostly because the information gleaned from these observations could be helpful moving forward, if nothing else.

Round two. After the count of three only two voices shouted, “Medusa!” Cal was quicker to her shot glass than Hazel, who looked a little embarrassed when she took her second.

Percy had not been entirely excited about Hazel, who was still several months away from twenty-one, drinking. Honestly, she was surprised Percy was such a stickler for drinking age propriety, but he insisted he had his first drink on his twenty-first birthday and not a day sooner. It had taken some cajoling, and Annabeth admitting that even _she_ drank before she was of legal age, but he’d agreed not to raise a stink about it. Safely surrounded by a group of trustworthy friends and family was a lot better than at a party with strangers, and both Piper and Annabeth had a strong suspicion this was not Hazel’s first time drinking, just the first time Percy was present to witness it.

Round three provided no matched pairs and Piper was beginning to think maybe this game wasn’t helpful _at all_ , but as soon as she’d had the thought round four gifted them with a chorus of, “Medusa!” from Frank and Hazel. She was quicker on the uptake this time, mostly because Frank spent an entire three seconds frozen in surprise. He quietly took his two shots and ushered the group into the second half of the game. Twelve shots down, nine to go.

Round five brought Jason’s first shout of, “Medusa!” along with Frank. This time Frank managed to get his shot down first, mostly because Jason had grimaced at his before throwing it back. The second went down with less hesitation, but he pretended to gag after. He and Percy made eye contact to confirm they were changing targets and a thrill of excitement over their conspiring went through Piper.

Round six’s matched pair were Percy and Leo, who shouted, “Medusa!” in harmony, but then both failed to take their shot, waiting for the other to go first so they could claim the second. It took about thirty seconds for Annabeth to get annoyed, roll her eyes, snap the shot glass out of Percy’s hand, and down it for him. While Percy whined about not getting to drink anything yet, Leo raised a glass to Annabeth in salute and took both his “losing,” shots in quick succession. 

Only three shots remained. Unless there were no pairs, round seven would be the last. Piper had been keeping track of how much everyone had to drink and knew Hazel was three deep already. While she wasn’t entirely sure about Hazel’s tolerance, the younger girl was small and it was safe to say one of the less experienced drinkers in the room. Piper didn’t want to get Hazel too drunk too early, and a single look at Annabeth told her they were in agreement on the matter. Jason and Percy were in charge of odd numbered rounds. It was full on cheating, but when she opened her eyes after the final count of three, Annabeth was looking back at her.

Piper let Annabeth be quicker this time, and finished the final shot of the game wearing a grin. It hadn’t been as effective as she’d hoped, but at least Frank and Hazel had looked at each other _once_. The game had been entertaining enough, so there was that. Hazel had also been looking at Frank during one of the rounds Piper was keeping watch, and she had a feeling the other three would report similar findings if they had a chance to trade notes.

Frank and Hazel were definitely, shamelessly, showing their mutual interest, and Piper wasn’t even entirely convinced they weren’t aware of how the other felt. Something was holding them back, making them hesitate to confess their feelings explicitly. Whatever it was, Piper knew they needed to find a way to weasel around the mental blocks that were keeping the two of them down. A little honesty, that was what the situation called for.

“This was fun,” Piper said after her drink had burned down her throat and was beginning to work its way into her system, “but I think Annabeth has had the most to drink and the last thing we want is her to be the first one of us drunk.”

“Why?” Hazel asked, bright eyed and grinning – she was definitely already headed toward tipsy, too. Most of the rest of the group also looked curious, but Annabeth just sighed.

“Because Annabeth is a weepy drunk,” Piper answered grimly. “She once cried over a teddy bear after having a few too many. And by once, I mean like a month ago.”

“It wasn’t the teddy bear!” Annabeth protested as everyone laughed, but Piper knew she couldn’t defend herself further without it becoming even more embarrassing. It had been the day after Annabeth’s first date with Percy, when she and Piper had built a blanket fort and gotten drunk while binging rom-coms. Annabeth had cried because the teddy bear (one of Piper’s) wasn’t as soft as Percy’s hair and that was the most ridiculous thing Piper had ever heard her best friend say, which also meant she’d never let Annabeth forget it. If the day ever came for Annabeth and Percy to get married, Piper would be including that anecdote in her wedding toast, but for now she would spare Annabeth the embarrassment.

Jason moved to get up. “If we’re not playing this again, I’m getting a beer. Anyone else want one?”

“Beer is so boring,” Piper whined, even as Cal, Frank and Hazel all raised their hands. Hopefully they knew she was only judging her boyfriend for the choice.

“Too bad you love boring now,” Jason teased, already on his feet. He bent over and gave Piper a quick kiss, which appeased her more than any liquor drinking ever would have, and shuffled off to the kitchen to grab the requested beers. It was true, she did love boring, and as much as she teased him, she wouldn’t have had him any other way.

Everyone else looked expectantly at Piper, apparently having decided she was the one in charge of their party. Hazel was the one who asked, “What are we playing now?”

Piper exchanged a contemplative look with Annabeth, who then gave one decisive nod. They hadn’t discussed the option, but in the moment Piper knew it was their best bet at making some real progress. Annabeth was almost certainly on the same page. 

“ _Truth or Dare_ ,” Piper answered.


	59. Chapter 59

“Swap me seats before you sit back down,” Annabeth said to Jason when he returned from the kitchen with an armful of beers. She was actively ignoring the slight slur of her own words. Five shots in less than an hour was too many. If she started crying in front of everyone she was going to murder Piper. And then cry about that, too.

Jason pouted at her and Annabeth could practically feel Percy’s matching expression without looking at him. “Why?”

“Because I may be a weepy drunk, but Piper is a touchy-feely one,” Annabeth explained, already on her feet and wobbling over to take Jason’s previous spot next to Piper. “Some of the people in this room are still unmarred by the two of you and we should keep it that way.” It was clear Jason’s two shots had already gone to his head because instead of getting embarrassed, he giggled (actually giggled – it was the weirdest sound Annabeth had ever heard) and went to take Annabeth’s former spot next to Percy without complaint.

“I would like to return to being unmarred,” Percy chimed in unhelpfully.

Thankfully, before that conversation could go any farther, Piper signaled for the group’s attention. “I am confident you all know how this game is played, but I’m going to lay down some very special Piper McLean _Truth or Dare_ rules. We’ll need an empty bottle–”

“On it!” Percy shouted, jumping up and rushing to the kitchen to grab another beer. Percy chugged down the bottle without any ceremony and returned to present it to Piper before settling back down in their circle.

Piper’s instructions continued, “I’ll go first, spin the bottle, and then whoever it lands on will be asked whether they want a truth or a dare. After I give my dare or question, you’ll have a choice – you can answer truthfully or do the dare, whichever you’d asked for, _or_ you can take a drink. There will be no teasing if someone opts to take a drink. 

“Also,” she continued, her voice firm and her eyes intent, “You’re not allowed to dare someone to do something with someone else. Annabeth isn’t allowed to dare me to kiss Jason, even though we all know that’s no problem, because it puts _Jason_ in the hot seat, too. Annabeth is, however, welcome to dare me to kiss her, since she’s the only other person who’d be involved and she can decide for herself whether she wants me to kiss her or not.

“We’re all friends here and we respect each other’s boundaries. Understood?” she asked, and looked around the group, making eye contact with each of them as if expecting someone to challenge her on the matter. All she got in return were seven nods. Annabeth found her intensity about making sure the game stayed fun and comfortable for everyone adorable, especially because the two of them had been in very _uncomfortable_ situations while playing that very game more than once over the years.

Satisfied everyone understood the game’s terms, Piper settled on the floor and spun the bottle. Every eye watched the amber glass spin against the coffee table until it came to a stop with the neck pointed decidedly at Annabeth. Both she and Piper looked a little disappointed, but Piper still asked without hesitation, “Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” Annabeth answered.

“Coward,” Piper retorted. Maybe she was, but she also knew Piper asked interesting questions, and she was looking forward to what would be asked of her, hopeful it would set the tone for the rest of the game. “Out of the people in this room, who would you most want to trade lives with for a day?”

It was a good question, just as Annabeth had suspected, and she smiled as she looked around at the other members of the group. In the end, though, the answer was easy – the person she simultaneously related most with and shared the most differences with, someone she had a feeling she could learn a lot from living in the shoes of. “Jason,” she declared, earning perplexed expressions from just about everyone around her, Jason especially. That truth was all she was bound by the game to offer, though, not an explanation, and so she said nothing else before giving the bottle a spin and enjoying everyone’s confusion.

As if the bottle had heard his name, it landed on Jason after finishing its spin. Annabeth smiled back at the still quizzical expression he wore. “Truth or Dare, Grace?”

“Truth,” he answered, grinning when Piper let out a very loud sound of exasperation.

“How would you rate your own looks on a scale of one to ten?” Annabeth asked, enjoying Piper’s annoyance at the cowardly combination her best friend and boyfriend made just as much as Jason very evidently was.

Her question made Jason tilt his head in thought, looking a little uncomfortable. “Six.”

“HA!” Percy barked as Piper shouted, “Bull _shit_!”

“Dude, you’re at least an eight,” Percy added a second later, looking at Jason with the same amount of indignation as Piper, which Annabeth found adorably charming and may have been giggling about.

“An eight?” Piper objected, looking at Percy as if he’d just insulted her personally. “Jason is a ten. An eleven, even.”

Despite the slight redness coloring his cheeks, Jason remained calm. “Annabeth asked what _I_ thought, not what the two of you thought,” he told them, though Annabeth got the feeling he was a little pleased by the praise. Without entertaining any further discussion, he reached across the table and spun the emptied beer bottle.

When it landed on Hazel and Jason posed that classic question, Hazel squared her shoulders. “Dare.”

Everyone scooted a little closer in anticipation. Piper looked skeptical about Jason’s ability to deliver a decent dare, but Annabeth was impressed when he came up with, “Read your most recent text message aloud to the group.”

Hazel tilted her head curiously and brought out her phone. “The most recent one sent or the most recent one received?”

“Sent,” Jason answered confidently. “Since received might put someone else in the hot seat, as Piper described it. You don’t have to tell us who it was to, either, just what it said.”

Piper rested a hand on her chest, sighed dreamily and leaned against Annabeth. She had taken a few unnecessary shots while watching the game progress. Switching seats with Jason had been a good idea. Even tipsy, Annabeth was impressed by her own ingenuity. 

“He’s so dreamy, enforcing the rules on his own dare. Totally an eleven,” Piper sighed.

Pulling up her texts, Hazel froze. Her eyes darted to Percy who looked back at her, head cocked to one side in confusion, and then pulled out his own phone. Apparently he’d missed a text from her, because he laughed, locked his screen and tucked his phone back away. Hazel thought for a few seconds, then decided, “I’ll drink,” and took a deep pull from her bottle of beer. Percy was still laughing as Hazel took her spin and the bottle landed on him.

“Dare,” he said, before Hazel even had a chance to ask the question.

“Go take your underwear off and wear them on your head for the rest of the night,” Hazel instructed, looking quite pleased with herself for coming up with the dare.

Percy also looked impressed. “You got it,” he said, rose to his feet, disappeared into the bathroom, and returned a minute or so later with a pair of blue, t-rex patterned boxer briefs banded around his head like the stupidest hat ever. As he took his seat he looked at Annabeth with a knowing smirk and she felt her cheeks go warm. He’d been wearing the same pair the day they’d first said I love you, Annabeth’s mind instantly flashing to the image of them crumpled up on her bedroom floor – and, oh God, if his underwear were on his head, that meant he wasn’t _wearing_ them. Like that her chest was constricting in pure anguish over knowing she couldn’t do anything with all her indecent thoughts. Before she could think too much more about it, and potentially end up crying over it, she downed a shot of vodka and looked away.

As the bottle spun yet again, there was a knock on the front door. Percy jumped back up to answer and collect their pizza – five boxes, four two-liter sodas, three orders of garlic knots, and an order of wings and fries for Frank, way more than was usually necessary for eight people. Annabeth knew, though, Percy could easily put an entire pie away himself, and Leo and Jason had impressive appetites of their own most of the time. The girl delivering didn’t seem phased by the underwear on Percy’s head, a bored expression on her face as Percy signed for the pizza and she handed the mass of boxes over. Annabeth supposed she’d seen weirder, especially in a town like Montauk that attracted so many vacationers.

The bottle settled once again on Jason while Percy was getting plates from the kitchen. “Truth or dare?” Percy asked, not even waiting to sit down to ask.

Jason took a deep, pained breath and sighed it out heavily. “I’m going to regret this, but dare.”

“Easy,” Percy said while beginning to hand around pizza boxes. He pointed to his own head and said, “Matchy-match with me. Go put your underwear on your head, Grace.”

Hazel looked extremely pleased, giddy even, that her dare had been so good it was worth recycling. After a quick shrug Jason was on his feet, and by the time the rest of the group were digging into their food, he had returned from the bathroom with a pair of white boxer briefs wrapped around his own head. 

“You seriously wear tighty whities?” Percy asked, words garbled as he spoke around an entire garlic knot shoved in his mouth.

“Some of us are adults and don’t need dinosaurs on our underwear anymore,” Jason teased back, reaching across Percy to grab one of the garlic knots for himself.

Percy glared as he chewed the rest of his knot, then turned to look across the table in the girls’ direction. “Piper, have you ever checked to make sure this guy doesn’t have a stick stuck up his ass?”

Several people around the circle choked on something or other, whether it be drinks or food, and then there was a chorus of laughter all around. Jason’s face turned beet red, his eyes wide, but he was laughing along with everyone else, maybe even the loudest of all. Annabeth had to be the one to scold, though her laughter. “ _Percy_.”

“It’s a fair question,” Percy insisted, recklessly brave considering Jason was sitting right next to him and therefore could throttle him little to no effort.

Still laughing herself, Piper had to struggle to safely chew and swallow a bite of her pizza before she could speak. “I have not, but I’ll get back to you on that one, Jackson.” So much for sparing their other friends exposure to Jason and Piper’s sex life.

If possible, Jason turned an even deeper shade of red, but he cleared his throat and spun the bottle without another word. They all turned to look at Leo when it landed.

“Dare,” Leo offered up without being asked. “Something more exciting than head underwear, though. Be creative.”

“Creative?” Jason asked, turning thoughtful. Whether it was just getting into the spirit of the party or the earlier shots he’d taken, Jason was growing bold, surprisingly relaxed even as he’d been the butt of Percy’s very explicit joke. Annabeth had rarely seen him acting so natural, which was probably a strange thing to say about a friend who was wearing underwear on his head, but true nonetheless. His dare of, “Make out with your hand for thirty seconds,” only reinforced her thoughts. Absolutely disgusting. Piper cackled in delight with a mouthful of veggie combo.

Leo didn’t hesitate. Everyone, and Annabeth looked at every other expression in the room to confirm it wasn’t just her, cringed. Jason seemed to regret his own dare almost immediately. Hazel and Cal both looked away, while Annabeth covered her eyes with a hand and wished she could curl into a ball and forget the night had ever happened, because looking away didn’t spare her from the _sounds_. Frank stared decidedly at the wall across from where he and Leo sat. Percy and Piper, though equally disgusted by the display, seemed to enjoy the whole thirty seconds regardless, cheering him on and encouraging him with suggestions like, “More tongue!” and, “Bite your thumb a little!”

With a loud smacking sound, Leo finished his thirty second self make out session and the group all dissolved into laughter. It took a few minutes for them to recover, someone always making the mistake of looking at Leo, who was sitting tall with a look of accomplishment on his face, and ending up a laughing mess all over again. Finally, as most of them (save for Hazel, who was still laying on her back giggling) regained their composure, Leo gave the bottle a spin and they watched it land on Piper.

“This guy can give me a dare any day,” Piper said, shooting a finger gun in Leo’s direction once he’d asked her the question.

It didn’t take any thought for Leo to come up with a dare. He pulled his phone from his pocket, flashed his thumbs against the screen for a few seconds, and handed it over to Piper. “Read this for the group in your best bedroom voice. I bet you’ve got a good one.”

Piper looked over whatever Leo had pulled up and covered her mouth with her hand. She glanced at Annabeth, as if gauging whether reading what was written on that phone were going to get her in trouble. It probably would, but Annabeth was still too buzzed from her earlier shots and laughing to discourage her. Percy had already scarred everyone well enough, anyway.

Deciding to bite the bullet, Piper cleared her throat began to read, her voice slow, low and raspy, barely managing to keep a straight face. “ _I pull him deeper into my mouth so I can feel him at the back of my throat and then to the front again. My tongue swirls around the end. He’s my very own Christian Grey-flavored popsicle. I suck harder and harder… Hmm … My inner goddess is doing the merengue with some salsa moves._ ” 

While Piper read, Jason’s face returned to its deeply reddened state, Hazel’s giggling yet again intensified, and Annabeth yet again wanted to curl into ball and escape. The rest of the group seemed more or less desensitized at that point. Leo’s display could not be topped.

“You’ll have to do better next time,” Piper told Leo as she passed his phone back to him, not bothered in the slightest by completing her dare. “I’m a little bummed.”

Leo looked distinctly disappointed by his own failure. “I thought at least Zhang would react.”

“That was nothing compared to living with Thalia and Reyna,” Frank replied, though closer inspection did reveal his ears were slightly pinked. There was also a little bit of barbecue sauce on the corner of his mouth, but no one else had seemed to notice.

“Unless you’re Jason,” Percy offered, cocking his head in Jason’s direction.

Grinning in Jason’s direction as he shifted uncomfortably, Piper said nothing else before she reached out and spun the empty beer bottle controlling their game. It settled after its countless rotations decidedly in Frank’s direction and then all eyes were on him and his barbecue sauce stained face.

“We’ve had a lot of dares, so… truth?” he asked when prompted, making Annabeth chuckle. It was his decision and he was still so uncertain.

Piper thought carefully, leaning heavily against Annabeth, her eyes alight with excitement at the opportunity to do a little meddling. Jason’s attempt with Hazel had failed, but if Piper played her cards right they might be able to get something meaningful out of Frank. This was a delicate situation, but if anyone could handle it, Piper could, even tipsy.

“What one thing would you say to your first love if they were here right now?” Piper asked, saying each word as if they were fragile, prone to shatter with even the slightest pressure.

Frank’s eyes flickered to Hazel, who was leaning on Cal’s shoulder and looking even more nervous than Frank himself, and his ears reddened completely, the color seeping slowly toward his cheeks. For a few seconds Annabeth held her breath, sure Frank would refuse to answer and take a drink, then his gaze became determined and took a deep breath. “Thank you,” he said, unable to make eye contact with anyone around the circle, “for what you did the day we met. It was one of the best days of my life.”

“What happened?” Piper asked, her question breaking a heavy silence Annabeth hadn’t even realized had settled over the group. A scan of the others told Annabeth everyone else wanted to know too, except Hazel, who was looking down at her hands, the ghost of a smile on her lips. Hazel must have known the confession was for her, or at least hoped, whether she was ready to fully admit the implications to herself or not.

While Frank was a big softie, he wasn’t dumb. Just like Annabeth and Jason earlier, he’d answered his truth and owed the group nothing more. He smiled a little, then reached out and spun the bottle without saying another word. It settled on Cal, her eyes growing wide with surprise, like she hadn’t realized there was a possibility it could land on her.

Annabeth had been trying not to watch Cal too closely, but had noticed her laughs were always a little quieter than the rest of the group, definitely awkward, while still trying to be engaged, attentive and friendly. She’d sipped at her beer, eaten her pizza, and watched each of them take their turns. It made Annabeth feel a little guilty. Cal was there with them, but on the outside. The problem was, Annabeth didn’t know how to solve the problem, nor did she know why she felt she wanted to so badly.

“Uh, truth or dare?” Frank asked.

Cal glanced at Percy, then Leo, and took a drink of her beer. “Truth.”

Frank thought for a few seconds, his lips pursed, and then settled on a question. “Have you ever thought of leaving Montauk?”

The question reminded Annabeth of why she liked Frank so much, and she took a bite of her pizza to hide her smile. It was a personal question, showing Frank had paid attention during their earlier conversations, and deeper than a casual discussion might have delved between people who didn’t know each other well, while still not overstepping into grounds that would be obviously uncomfortable for Cal in a group of majority strangers. Not just anyone could craft a question so genuine on the fly. If only Frank could see how special he was, maybe he’d be able to tap into a little confidence and do truly amazing things.

“I have,” Cal answered simply, glancing around the group. “I do still.”

A hint of surprise flashed across Percy’s face at her answer, Annabeth noticing it only because her gaze naturally fell to him more often than not. She remembered what he’d said in the bathroom, about the predictable life he’d envisioned with Cal while they were together, and wondered if he’d ever thought that might not be what Cal actually wanted, either. Annabeth felt a twinge of jealousy, something she knew was completely irrational, at the idea Percy might be reconsidering his original thoughts about Cal. Then she followed his gaze across the group to Leo and all her jealousy dissolved.

While Annabeth hadn’t spent as much time with Leo as she had Frank or Hazel over the last couple months – he was often busier than them, having been selected to work with one of his professors on a big project – she’d learned enough about him to be surprised to see him look so somber. She’d seen him focused and serious pouring over homework. She’d seen him intense and passionate while talking about his work or major, which she’d found interesting the few times they discussed it, or about his family. Not once would she have imagined Leo as _somber_ , yet there he sat, looking at Cal like just the idea she wanted to leave broke his heart.

Annabeth was drawn out of her thoughts by the sound of the bottle spinning again and she only just turned her attention back to it in time to see it land on her. Trying to even out her expression, Annabeth looked Cal in the eye and smiled politely as she was asked, “Truth or dare?”

She took truth again, because she was, as Piper yet again complained, a coward who was not interested in having underwear on her head or – like Percy dared Leo to later in the game – being blindfolded and letting her darer feed her something. Piper called it cowardice, but Annabeth thought it was just good sense. Answering a few pointed, personal questions, even embarrassing, was much more sensible than having to sniff everyone’s feet and rank them in order of how badly they smelled (that one was given to Piper by Hazel, who was actually disturbingly good at thinking of dares).

More alcohol was consumed all around, both by the nature of the game and because most of them just wanted to keep drinking when they didn’t have to. They laughed, never quite as hard as when Leo made out with his hand, but plenty, and especially when Piper dared Jason to spend the rest of his night without a shirt on and Percy had taken that as a personal challenge. He claimed it was in solidarity, so Jason wouldn’t be embarrassed, but Annabeth got the distinct impression he wanted everyone to know Jason was not the only guy there with a six pack. Annabeth, of course, didn’t complain about the wonderful view she was provided, even if she knew he was full of it.

The one time Piper opted for truth, Annabeth got a little weepy. She was asked what her favorite memory from childhood was and of course it was Parents’ Day. Annabeth couldn’t be blamed for crying when _that_ story was being told. Everyone teased her for it, anyway, but from then on out the touchy-feely drunk Piper refused to not be touching Annabeth – wrapping arms around her, touching her face, playing with her hair, trying to tickle her feet even though they both knew she wasn’t ticklish there.

While Cal continued to seem uncomfortable, she did relax bit by bit, probably thanks to the alcohol. She even took a dare once, late in the game. It was a brave choice, considering Hazel was the one giving it and had been a mastermind of dares all night. Hazel made her talk in a British accent for the rest of the night, which Cal was comically terrible at. The accent became worse as the night progressed further, but she never gave it up, true to the spirit of the dare.

Before any of them knew it, two in the morning had come and gone. Hazel was half asleep on Cal’s shoulder. Piper was passed out in Annabeth’s lap. Annabeth herself was only barely keeping her eyes open as Percy and Leo, who were zoned out but still trying to cling to ridiculousness, continued to spin the bottle only to realign it when it landed on anyone beside each other. Only Jason and Frank seemed to have kept the better part of their sobriety – Frank because he had inhuman tolerance, based on Annabeth’s observations, and Jason because he’d only had a couple beers over the several hours that had passed since his initial shots.

“We should get these four to bed,” Jason finally said, pointing at the girls arrayed in various states of unconsciousness.

Cal, though drowsy herself, nudged Hazel awake gently. “I think I can get Hazel back there,” she said with a laugh in her voice and her poor attempt at an accent still in use, looking over at the bleary eyed Hazel fondly. Together they managed to get to their feet. Frank looked like he wanted to help, but slouched down into the couch instead, disgruntled. 

Even with her mind addled, Annabeth noticed the longing way Leo watched them, watched Cal, go. If she’d harbored any more frustration at him for bringing Cal along, it melted away then. Tears stung her eyes as she thought about how much pain Leo must have been in, all the years he had spent with his love unrequited, and Annabeth rubbed them away as best she could, hoping no one was paying close enough attention to notice.

“Piper and I might as well sleep out here,” Annabeth said, very much wanting to just keel over and join her best friend in slumber. They’d offered to sleep on the floor in their room with Hazel and Cal anyway. At least out there they had the weak embers of a dying fire to keep them toasty warm.

“I’ll get blankets,” Percy said, his words slurred, and he stumbled a little once he was on his feet, but otherwise managed to get to the hall closet and pull out a pile of blankets without falling on his face or ass. Annabeth enjoyed watching him wobble across the living room to the hall closet, shirtless and underwear still wrapped around his head, and laughed quietly at the way he battled with the large, fluffy blankets he pulled out of it. It honestly looked like he was going to lose to them, be knocked over and swallowed up in a sea of sheets and quilts.

Jason got up as well, coming over to kneel down and help Annabeth get Piper situated while Percy fumbled around arranging blankets. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Leo and Frank getting the couch pulled out. Percy had just wrapped a blanket around Annabeth’s shoulders when suddenly Jason scooped Piper up. A squeaked objection was all Annabeth got out before Jason deposited Piper onto the pull out, kissed her on the forehead and pulled a blanket up over her.

“You didn’t think Leo and I were going to let you sleep on the floor while we got a bed, did you? Mom would disown us in a heartbeat if she heard we’d even thought about it,” Percy said in a whisper, his breath hot against her ear and reeking of beer and vodka. A second later she was swept up much the same as Piper had been, though Percy was far less stable than Jason had been and she therefore objected the whole two feet he carried her to the bed. How he managed not to drop her would be a mystery for the ages.

The pull out couch was lumpy and stiff, but as soon as she was laid in it Annabeth felt herself drifting off to sleep. In the distance she heard Percy laugh, felt his lips brush against her forehead, and then she was warmer than she’d been all night and fast asleep.


	60. Chapter 60

_Food._

Piper smelled it before she was even awake. The sweet scents of breakfast seeped into her dreams. They called to her, took on a life of their own, made the waking world seem like an alright place to travel to. That was when the pain hit.

Drinking was fun. Hangovers were not. No matter how long Piper lived, she doubted she would learn that lesson.

She groaned and rolled over, still half asleep, and smacked someone – oh, it was just Annabeth, that was fine – in the face with the back of her hand. Her mouth was drier than any desert. Her body ached. Her bladder felt like it was going to explode. The last issue was what made her finally bite the pain bullet and shoot straight up. She barely even had time to take in her surroundings before she was throwing off her blankets and padding toward the bathroom as fast as her stiff limbs could carry her.

After relieving herself (and it was probably one of the most satisfying pees of her life), Piper poked rudely around in the bathroom until she found some ibuprofen, cupped her hand under the sink to get a drink of water, and downed two of the little pills. They would take a while to kick in, but she felt better at least knowing the medication would be working its way into her system soon. She wanted to drink about a thousand more gallons of that sweet water, but figured it would be more effective to go out to the kitchen and get a bottle or glass than to bend over the bathroom sink drinking handfuls from the faucet.

When she made her way back out, Annabeth was sitting up on the pull out couch, still wrapped in blankets, her blonde curls tangled, escaped from the pony tail she’d been wearing the night before, and defying the laws of physics. This was actually about how Annabeth looked most mornings, so Piper just nodded in her direction and said, “Sup, Chase?”

“Did you hit me?” Annabeth asked, her voice groggy and throat scratchy. From the way she smacked her lips, Piper guessed Annabeth’s mouth was about as dry as her own.

“A little,” Piper shrugged.

Annabeth groaned and face planted back into her pillow, covering her head with blankets. The house was warmer that morning than it had been when they arrived the night before, but still colder than Piper liked to be. She had half a mind to burrow back into those blankets with Annabeth, but the allure of breakfast and her need to hydrate won out, so Piper rounded the wall that divided living room from kitchen.

What Piper found when she walked into that kitchen should have been a crime. Everyone was awake and in good spirits. Jason, Hazel and Frank were seated together at the kitchen table, each with a mug of coffee in hand, talking animatedly about something, dressed and smiling. Leo and Cal were together in the kitchen, creating those wonderful smells that had lured Piper out of her slumber, working as a silent but effective team to churn out a spread that would impress even Naomi Solace – pancakes with an array of fruit and syrup toppings to select from, cinnamon rolls, bacon, sausage, yogurt and what looked like breakfast sandwiches. Only Percy was missing, aside from Annabeth still hiding in the pull out couch.

“She arises,” Jason announced, noticing Piper first. The others in the kitchen turned to her and chimed a chorus of _heys_ and _good mornings_ , but Piper could only manage a grunt as she made a b-line for the fridge. Thankfully it was packed with water bottles. Piper pulled out three, slipped back into the living room to throw one at Annabeth, then took the other two with her when she sat down at the table with Jason, Hazel and Frank.

On closer inspection, Hazel looked a little more hungover than Piper had first thought, mostly because of the profound bags under her eyes, but she was still smiling and otherwise seemingly unbothered by whatever symptoms she was suffering. “We were going to wait until Percy got back from his run to wake you,” she said and took a sip of her coffee.

Piper downed an entire bottle of water in one fell swoop, the cold, crisp liquid stinging her throat. After a refreshed sigh, Piper felt a little more alive. “It was impossible to sleep with all those delicious smells in the air,” she said, nodding toward Cal and Leo, who were still piling pancakes and grilled sandwiches on platters in preparation to serve. Her stomach growled for all to hear and she wasn’t even ashamed.

“You eat eggs and cheese, right?” Leo asked, turning to look at Piper, wearing a proud grin.

“I do,” Piper confirmed. “Just keep the meat away from me and I’m good.”

Cal huffed beside Leo, smoothly flipping a pancake. “I told you. Were you paying attention to anything last night?”

“Nope,” Leo answered, returning to his griddle.

Jason slipped an arm around the back of Piper’s chair and leaned in to whisper, “We’re making bets on when she’s going to dump that pancake batter on his head.”

“I would have done it an hour ago,” Hazel said with a wrinkled nose, making Frank laugh into his coffee, splash a little out of the cup, jerk the cup away, and then spill even more. Piper watched as Hazel grabbed for napkins and fluttered around the spill. Their hands did a strange dance, with Hazel trying to avoid actually patting him where coffee had spilled and Frank’s fingers brushing her hands while he took napkins from her, his cheeks turning a bright rosy hue that Piper was beginning to think was just the natural state for men in his family.

Piper glanced at Jason with eyebrows raised and he mouthed, _All morning_. She took a drink out of her second bottle of water as she continued to watch the two seated across from them try to work through the awkward tension. Whether it was better or worse than it had been before they arrived, Piper wasn’t sure. Annabeth would have to be the judge.

“How did you two meet?” Piper asked, once she was halfway through her second bottle of water. “Was it through Nico?”

Frank looked panicked at the question, like his small confession the night before was about to be exposed – which was more or less Piper’s intention. Hazel was the one who answered. “Kind of. It was Nico’s birthday party, but I think it was a while before Nico and Jason really became friends. Dad always threw Nico big birthday parties where he’d invite all the kids our family knew. Nico hated them.”

“Those things were crazy,” Jason said, and his tone sounded like he was commiserating something unpleasant. “Always had bouncy houses and ponies and like a hundred kids running around. One time they just rented out an entire theme park and let us all loose for the day. I can’t imagine Nico liking all that fuss being made over him, even as a kid.”

“He loved it when we were really little,” Hazel offered, then shook whatever thought she was having off. “Anyway, we met then, but we never… well, we didn’t talk much until recently, aside from bumping into each other a few times. It was lucky we both ended up in our swim class.”

Piper had to resist the urge to smile. Annabeth had told her there was nothing lucky or coincidental about Frank being in their shared morning swimming course. “That class was really a miracle worker,” Piper said instead of exposing the truth, as much as she wanted to.

“You can say that again,” Percy said in lieu of any greeting to announce he’d finally returned. Piper hadn’t even heard him come in the front door, but he was dressed in a gray sweatshirt and matching joggers, sweaty and gross in a way she was sure Annabeth would have loved. He went straight to the fridge, grabbed two bottles of water, similar to the way Piper had, and then collapsed in one of the last two kitchen table chairs. “We probably wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for that class.”

“Is that where all of you met?” Cal asked, coming over to place a platter of pancakes on the table, preparing to set breakfast. Her sweet voice always surprised Piper, even as the woman had become more inclined to talk over the course of the previous evening. The awkward, nervous glances toward Percy had stopped as well, and though Cal still seemed hesitant about her own presence, Piper wondered if being able to help with breakfast had eased some of her guilt about crashing the party.

“Not Piper and me,” Jason replied, wearing a thoughtful smile. “Actually, I’ve been thinking about it, and we might have all ended up right where we are even if it weren’t for that class.”

“You have piqued my interest, Grace, continue,” Percy said, pointing his second water bottle at Jason. Like Piper, he’d downed the first one in a few giant gulps. Piper ignored the fact that Percy’s thirst was the result of working out and her own had been the result of drinking too much the night before. Percy was probably almost as hungover as she was, even if he was hiding it better. She kind of hated him for having taken a run first thing in the morning.

“Well, you were already obsessed with Annabeth before classes started,” Jason offered, making Piper and Hazel both laugh.

“First of all,” Percy was quick to interrupt, “obsessed is not the right word. Second of all, I can’t believe Annabeth told you that.”

“Annabeth told me,” Piper corrected. “I was the one who told Jason. And you absolutely were obsessed.”

“He was,” Hazel confirmed, earning her a shove from Percy that didn’t seem to bother her one bit.

“Anyway,” Jason continued, leaning forward in excitement, “you know Hazel. Hazel knows me. I was already dating Piper. Odds are, you would have ended up crossing paths one way or another. All our fates were sealed the second Piper gave me her number.”

Percy flashed a teasing smile. “So none of this would have happened if Piper hadn’t kicked your ass into asking for it, is what you mean.”

“I would have asked for it without the pushing,” Jason said defensively.

This time it was Frank who teased, “No, he wouldn’t have,” and made everyone around the table laugh. It might have just been in Piper’s imagination, but he sat a little taller after that.

Laughter must have been enough to fully rouse Annabeth, because she trudged into the kitchen then, still wrapped up in a quilt. Percy reached for her automatically and she seated herself in his lap rather than taking the last chair on the other side of the table. “You stink,” she observed after a few seconds.

Cal, who’d been bringing another platter of food to the table, laughed without hesitation. The whole table turned to her in a unified display of surprise and she mumbled, “Sorry. It’s just… he does.” Shyly, she ventured a glance at Annabeth. It was a tense couple seconds, but they relaxed simultaneously after, some kind of understanding passing between them. Percy looked between them, just the right amount of scared, confused and relieved.

“He really does,” Annabeth finally said, wrinkling her nose. “Please go take a shower before you make the whole house smell.”

“You should brush your hair while I’m in there,” Percy replied, though there was some hesitance behind his teasing, as if he still weren’t sure about what had just happened between Annabeth and Cal.

Piper decided to come to Percy’s aid. “You really should. It’s an impressive mess, even for you.”

“Both of you are mean,” Annabeth complained, reaching up to feel around her bedhead. Based on Piper’s experience, Annabeth probably had no idea how ridiculous she looked. Annabeth probably also didn’t much care, even around people she didn’t know well.

Both of them disappeared to clean themselves up as Cal and Leo continued to set the table. The group didn’t wait for them to return to start breakfast. Too much work had been put into the feast to allow it to grow cold. 

Annabeth made it back first, hair brushed and clothes changed. Percy arrived shortly after, hair still damp from his shower. They met at the counter, all the seats around the table taken, and even though Annabeth had already started eating, Percy kissed her before even glancing at the array of food. It was a brazen display, but Piper sensed it had nothing to do with showing off and everything to do with plain desire after an entire night keeping their hands off each other.

Jealousy sent a pang straight through Piper’s heart, her eyes flickering to Jason. He’d never been big on public displays of affection, but he also hadn’t laid a hand on her since waking up. She tried not to linger on the thought, but the rosy warmth in Annabeth’s cheeks reminded Piper every time she glanced back at the couple seated at the kitchen counter, both looking absolutely content even as Annabeth scolded him over inhaling his food like a human vacuum cleaner and putting too much syrup on his pancakes.

“I asked Leo to take me back into town after breakfast,” Cal announced between dainty bites of pancakes and sausage, bringing Piper’s attention back to the full group. “Thank you all for letting me stay last night.”

Hazel’s shoulders slumped a little. “Do you have to go already?”

Cal smiled sweetly and reached out to cover Hazel’s hand with her own. “I really should. My sisters have already sent me a dozen texts complaining that I left them alone to handle breakfast on a Saturday. If I’m not back by lunch they’re going to lose their minds.”

“Thank you for _this_ breakfast,” Annabeth spoke up, her tone genuine and warm. Everyone quickly echoed the thanks, piling on praise for the extensive and delicious meal that had been prepared for them. Cal looked pleased by the reaction, and from the shy way she smiled at Annabeth, Piper got the impression Cal liked her approval most of all.

“No need to thank me,” Leo chimed, leaning back in his seat and holding up his hands. “I just grilled all the meat and made all the sandwiches.”

“You wouldn’t even have managed that right if I hadn’t noticed the bacon was about to burn,” Cal was quick to reply, her smile being replaced by pursed lips and narrowed eyes in a matter of seconds. “And you really don’t know how to chop vegetables properly. You’re going to take a finger off someday with the way you flail those knives around.”

“I handle delicate and heavy machinery on a daily basis. I’m not afraid of kitchen knives,” Leo replied with a smug grin and a shrug of his shoulders. All eyes were on the two of them, bouncing between whoever was speaking as if the conversation were an intense tennis match, the kitchen table their court.

“Don’t come crying to me when you’re short a pinkie someday.”

“People don’t even need pinkies anyway. They’re disposable.”

“They account for half your hand strength. Without them you’d probably have trouble with all that _delicate and heavy machinery_.”

“That sounds fake.”

“Why would I make that up?”

“Because you enjoy being a pain in my ass.”

Huffing, Cal rolled her eyes and grumbled, “You’re insufferable.”

“Good thing you won’t have to suffer me again after today,” he told her, and though it was evident he tried to keep his tone playful, there was an edge to it. 

She snorted. “You’ll be back in a month or two, you always are.”

“Not this time,” Leo said with a shake of his head. His tone made it seem like he considered this a victory, but even Piper, who barely knew him, could see the sadness in his eyes. “I’m heading north to Massachusetts after graduation. I’m so good with delicate and heavy machinery, they want me working on research up at MIT while I get my master’s. I probably won’t be back here for years.”

“Oh,” Cal said, surprised and shifting in her seat as if suddenly uncomfortable. She settled with her arms crossed and her chin raised. “Well, congratulations, then.”

As they fell silent, Piper risked a glance over at Annabeth and Percy. He was looking at Leo, a hint of pain in his eyes. Annabeth was looking at Percy, her hand reaching for his and giving it a little squeeze. Piper might have assumed this was because Percy was struggling with his brother leaving, but she’d heard from Annabeth that Percy was the person most excited about the huge opportunity Leo had earned through endless hard work the last four years. Something more was happening here, something to do with Cal.

Jason cleared his throat, breaking the tense silence that had settled over the group. “Frank, you want to help me with dishes?”

“Sure,” Frank agreed, his chair screeching against the tile floor as he got to his feet. They began collecting plates, the clank of china and silverware filling the awkward silence between everyone still seated.

Finally Cal breathed a frustrated sigh and looked at Leo. Her voice was surprisingly tender when she said, “We should probably go.”

“Yeah,” Leo agreed, letting out a shaky breath of his own.

After Cal changed back into her freshly laundered clothes from the night before, Frank and Jason waved to her from the kitchen where they were already starting to work on the large mass of dishes piled up. At the door, Piper said an awkward goodbye to Cal. Annabeth said an even more awkward goodbye. Percy said the most awkward goodbye of them all. Hazel gave Cal a big hug and promised to see her sometime over the summer.

“Do you know what that was all about?” Piper asked Annabeth, when Percy wandered into the kitchen to help with the dishes and the two of them got to work cleaning up the pull out couch.

Annabeth glanced toward the kitchen, Piper getting the feeling she was thinking about Percy. “Leo’s in love with Cal, has been for a long time,” she explained, her voice a whisper but still laden with empathy for Leo’s plight. 

Suddenly Piper understood the reason Annabeth had been so willing to face discomfort the night before. It was hard to be mad at someone who was stupid in the name of love, and not only was Leo’s stupidity at least in the name of love, he was someone precious to Percy. Even Piper would have found it difficult to deny him an evening with Cal, with all those factors considered. It had all turned out well in the end, too, probably even better than if Annabeth had demanded Cal leave.

“Maybe he’ll have a little closure now, be able to move on before he leaves for MIT,” Piper offered, trying to sound hopeful. She knew it was never that easy.

“Maybe,” Annabeth agreed, though she didn’t sound too convinced, either.


	61. Chapter 61

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter contains explicit content.

“Leo forgot to get stuff to make hot chocolate,” Percy announced as the boys emerged from the kitchen after finishing up the dishes from breakfast, a task that had taken close to an hour and had resulted in a lot of bickering, mainly between Percy and Jason. “I’m going to want some tonight. Beth, you wanna come with me to the store?”

Annabeth, who was just sitting down at the coffee table in the living room to start a game of _Monopoly_ with Hazel and Piper, looked at him blankly and said, “No.” She wanted to play _Monopoly_ , because Piper sucked at it and, even if Hazel was good, Annabeth was confident she was going to win.

Percy leaned against the wall, slipping his hands into the pockets of his jeans. The corners of his lips quirked up, like he was trying not to laugh. “Beth, please?”

Her eyes trailed the length of his body slowly, leaned so casually against the wall. The snug fit of jeans and his simple t-shirt (this one with a _Jurassic Park_ logo faded on the front – which reminded her of his underwear the night before, which reminded her of how terribly horny she’d been at the mere sight of them) was sexier than it had any right to be. When she returned her gaze to his, Percy wiggled his eyebrows and her heart picked up speed. Maybe she could kick Piper’s and Hazel’s asses at _Monopoly_ some other time.

“Fine,” she agreed with a heavy sigh, making a show of acting annoyed, like he was really putting her out by begging her to tag along. “Sorry. You can play without me. I’ll get another round later,” she said to the girls, rolling her eyes to put the cherry on top of her performance.

“Uh-huh,” Piper said flatly, not buying the act in the least. “Be safe out there.”

“Don’t forget the marshmallows,” Hazel told Percy, her words earnest despite the suspicion written on her features.

“I would not dream of forgetting the marshmallows,” Percy said gravely, grabbing his jacket off the rack by the door and handing Annabeth hers. His arm was around her waist as soon as they both pulled those jackets on, shouting over his shoulder as they walked out the door, “If Leo gets back before we do, tell him to get that fire going again!”

The instant they were outside, Percy leaned down to press a kiss to the side of her head, not saying another word as they skipped together toward his car. Annabeth let him open the passenger door for her and waited until they were both inside to ask, “Did Leo really forget the hot chocolate?”

“Nope,” Percy answered shamelessly, and before he started to reverse out of the driveway, he reached into the back seat and presented Annabeth with a plastic grocery bag full of everything needed to make hot chocolate – not the powdered mix, actual bitter sweet chocolate bars, sugar, cinnamon sticks, peppermints, and three bags of blue marshmallows.

“When did you have time to steal all this and hide it in your car?” Annabeth asked, letting out an impressed laugh at his sneakiness and the brilliance of his plan. Not only would the ingredients be missing if anyone went looking for them, they wouldn’t have to return to the cabin empty handed. Piper was obviously suspicious, but even she wouldn’t be able to contest this foolproof alibi Percy had crafted.

He beamed with pride. “This morning, when I left for my run. Only Jason was up and I grabbed it all while he was busy with something.”

“And what,” she started, returning the bag to the back seat, “does my evil genius of a boyfriend have planned instead of a trip to the grocery store?”

“I think you know, Annabeth,” he replied, taking a quick glance at her.

Annabeth didn’t reply, pressing her lips together to hide her smile. Instead she scooted as close to Percy as her seat belt and the center console would allow and slipped her hand onto his thigh, rubbing back and forth. She watched as he swallowed hard, keeping his eyes locked on the road ahead of him. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him grip the steering wheel a little tighter. His hips shifted and she pressed her own legs together as heat pooled in the pit of her stomach in anticipation of what was surely to come.

She would have had no problem going the weekend without getting physical, but she had to admit she liked the idea of Percy being so intent on _not_ going the weekend without that he had to sneak around and create an opportunity for them. Spending the night before and morning with Cal had been strange. Annabeth wasn’t jealous, didn’t feel particularly threatened, all things with Leo considered. Still, the reassurance of Percy’s inability to keep his hands off her was especially welcome. Any doubts that had been daring to weasel their ways into her mind were being cut off at the source and she adored him for making that happen.

“How many girls have you taken out in Bessie like this?” she asked, her smile finally breaking through, hoping to catch him off guard with the question.

No such luck. Percy replied, “None,” easily, a smile to match hers creeping across his face.

“Percy,” Annabeth said flatly. “You can be honest.”

His smile only grew. “I am being honest. I’ve driven dates in her before, but always to a destination. Bessie is sacred ground.”

Excitement sent her heart racing. A small, petty, jealous part of her had admittedly been wondering specifically if he’d done this very thing with Cal all those summers ago. Although, she realized, that probably meant _they_ were heading somewhere else and her excitement ebbed slightly. “So, what’s our destination?”

“No destination,” he replied. “I’m just going to drive until we find secluded little strip of beach with a nice view and pull over.”

“I love you, but your brain really is made of seaweed if you think there’s any way I’m going to risk getting sand in every uncomfortable little crevice,” she told him, her voice again going flat. If that was his plan they were both going to be sorely disappointed by this outing.

He reached down and took her hand with one of his, lifted it to his mouth and kissed the back of it. “We’re not getting out of the car, don’t worry.”

Excitement began to take hold of her again, but Annabeth did her best to keep it at bay before she understood exactly what Percy had in mind. “What happened to Bessie being sacred ground?”

“You’re not just any old girl, Annabeth Chase,” Percy said, risking a longer glance at her than was probably strictly safe while he was driving. “You’re a goddess.”

The rush those words gave her was expressed by withdrawing her hand and smacking him lightly on the shoulder, then again a few more times, making him duck as far away as he could manage while maintaining control of the car. He didn’t need to use cheesy, forced lines to get her. All it took was a smile and she was putty in his hands – case in point, how easily he’d convinced her to ditch that game of _Monopoly_ she’d been so excited about. She knew he was painfully aware of how wrapped around his finger she was. She also knew, for that reason, he was sincere, which made it a thousand times worse.

“Percy, pull over,” she said firmly, once she’d settled herself back down, though her heart refused to calm.

“We can’t even see the ocean here,” he complained, still chuckling over the reaction he’d inspired. That was why he did it, to get a rise out of her. And because he knew she secretly loved it. Those two things were the worst combination.

“Pull. Over.” Her firm annunciation of the words must have gotten through to him, because he raised his eyebrows, eased carefully to the side of the road, put the car in park, and killed the ignition.

As soon as the engine was silent she peeled off her jacket, popped her buckle and began to maneuver herself into his lap. It was not an easy task in the confines of his car, with the bulky center console between them, but she refused to let such insignificant obstructions get in the way of what she wanted. In a smooth motion Percy reached beneath the seat and then it was falling back, Annabeth letting out a screech of a laugh and Percy’s chuckles echoing her. Her lips found his barely a second later and their joint laughter was silenced by her tongue slipping into his mouth and his arms winding around her.

Seated in his lap, she could feel the effects of her gentle massaging of his thigh and she rolled down against his budding erection. Her hands wasted no time sliding down his chest, over the soft fabric of his shirt and down to his jeans. He smiled into their kiss at her impatience and she responded by digging her teeth into his bottom lip, giving it a tug and relishing in the groan he let out. Together they managed to shimmy his jeans and underwear down just enough to free his erection, and she pulled back to look at him while one of his hands dug through his rumpled jeans to pull a small, familiar packet out of his pocket. 

“You were confident today,” Annabeth teased, her chest rising and falling sharply, and she snapped the lube out of his hands. While she struggled with the packet, he curled his fingers into the fabric of her t-shirt and began to pull it off her. The road wasn’t a particularly busy one, but she still felt exposed. That didn’t stop her from allowing him to strip her, though. If anything, the exposure excited her.

“I knew the brilliance of my plan would turn you on,” Percy teased back, his fingers burning a trail up her bare stomach and pushing her bra up enough to cup her breasts in his hands. She pressed into his touch while her own fingers continued to fumble with the little packet. Those things were the worst, always stupidly difficult to open, making her whine in frustration and impatience, wishing she had some scissors on hand. He was content to watch her, a smug smile on his face as he played with her, distracting her further with the way he pinched and twisted her nipples instead of being helpful.

Finally the plastic gave way. She emptied the contents onto her palm and didn’t hesitate to wrap her hand around him. In seconds his eyes fluttered closed, his hips jerked up to meet her, and it was her turn to feel smug. Since their first time she’d grown well acquainted with what he liked, become an expert in knowing when to run her thumb over his tip, squeeze the base of his shaft a little harder, or let her fingers brush against his balls in a way that drove him absolutely insane.

Driving him insane drove _her_ insane. He looked amazing while in the throws of pleasure, his brow furrowed, the veins in his neck bulging, his mouth agape. Every time she got her hands or mouth on him she was amazed by how much pleasuring him satisfied her, because she loved him, she wanted him to feel good, and she loved being the one to make it happen.

“Percy, please,” she whispered, desperation gaining a stronger hold on her with every passing second. She grabbed his wrist and guided one of his hands down to the button on her own pants. As much as she loved the way he teased her chest, she needed proper relief. He opened his eyes just enough to look at her, so bright and intense they still took her breath away, and groaned softly as he complied with her request by unbuttoning her jeans. Without so much as a word his hand slipped into them.

By the time his fingers found her clit she was so keyed up that the lightest touch made her breath hitch. She leaned forward to give him easier access and plant her lips on his perfectly defined jaw. They fell into an easy rhythm, her hips grinding down against his hand in time with the her stroking him. The car had been warm from the heater while it was running, but their heavy breathing and burning bodies quickly made the small space hot. Sweat began to bead on Percy’s neck, but it didn’t stop her from sucking and licking down the slope of it between her encouraging whines and moans. It wasn’t long before he let out a blissful cry, his hips jerking hard in a few swift motions as he came.

Even as he struggled to catch his breath, he continued to pleasure her. His fingers circled her sensitive, swollen nub at a shamelessly quick, rough pace. Annabeth ground down against his hand with increasing forcefulness, the pressure feeling like it was never enough. Nothing was ever enough, even when it was his mouth between her thighs or his fingers inside her. She always wanted more of him, to feel closer, made worse in that moment by the fact that he was tortuously, fully clothed. Her hands were messy from jerking him off, but she slipped them under his shirt anyway just to feel the heat of his bare skin under her fingertips in a desperate bid for _more_.

Her face was buried in his shoulder when she came shortly after him, letting out a long, choked moan as she tumbled over the edge. Nails raking against his abdomen, thighs clamping down around him, she twitched under his continued ministrations until every last ounce of pleasure had been drawn from her. His hand withdrew slowly and she collapsed against him. The sound of their breathing, struggling to even out, was all that filled the air for a long time.

Percy reached up and pulled her hair out of its ponytail, began to stroke it gently as they came down from their respective highs. Time didn’t matter, so she didn’t bother considering how much was passing as they laid there together. Everything was gross and sticky, but she didn’t care one bit. He was warm, the fabric of his shirt soft, and the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest as soothing as any lullaby. Her hangover had not been particularly bad, especially not once she’d had some Tylenol and a good meal, but the urge to give into her achy body and just fall back to sleep there on Percy’s chest was strong.

The windows of the car had fogged. Annabeth wasn’t even sure when it had happened, but she reached up to drag her finger through the condensation, an amused smile on her lips as she doodled on that little glass canvas. Outside was cold, wet and miserable, just as she’d suspected for their weekend trip, but none of those things could touch her. Having an evil genius for a boyfriend wasn’t such a bad thing.

“What’s the real reason you had never done this?” Annabeth asked, voice quiet, drowsy. The way he was playing with her hair was only making her desire to fall asleep there worse.

“Just never wanted to,” Percy told her, the drawl of his words telling her he was just as close to falling asleep as she was. If they weren’t careful they were likely to conk out and sleep the whole day away together. Any other day she might have welcomed the prospect, but they had friends waiting on them.

Annabeth’s preference for not hearing the details of his past relationships hadn’t changed, but curiosity’s pull was too strong for her to resist once it had a hold on her. “Not even with your first girlfriend?”

“No,” he said, seeming surprised himself at the realization. “Bessie wasn’t really road worthy until after we broke up, anyway, but she also never really understood why working on the cars was such a big deal to Leo and me. She’d always point out that we live in the city and don’t need cars to get around, especially because we had Paul’s Prius, that these old cars use a bunch of gas, it’s bad for the environment, all that. I got it, I really did. Grover gets on me about driving too much all the time, too. That makes the car a very unromantic place, though.”

“I wouldn’t exactly call what just happened romantic, Percy,” she teased, though that wasn’t entirely true. Sneaking off, the thrill of the semi-public venue, his admission it was something he’d never done before, were all romantic in their own little ways. Laying there with him, as awkward as the position was, also had a kind of romantic charm.

“I would,” he replied, a smirk on his lips as he twirled her hair around his finger.

Reluctantly, Annabeth sat up, frowning at the mess on both of them while she adjusted her bra to cover herself. “Romantic or not, your shirt is ruined,” she complained, making him laugh.

“I’ll close my jacket over it when we go back and change as soon as we get there,” he assured her, as if she was worried about getting caught and not mourning the loss of one of his wonderful shirts. Maybe she’d be able to salvage it, although she didn’t look forward to the prospect of adding, _how to get cum stains out of clothes_ , to her Google search history. With a nod toward the passenger seat, Percy added, “There are napkins and wet wipes in the glove box.”

She narrowed her eyes playfully and reached for the glove box to pull them out. “Are you sure you haven’t done this before?”

“They’re from when I used to spend a lot of time eating in my car between practice and shifts at the pizza parlor,” he explained, not looking at all amused by her teasing. Annabeth let him snag one of the individually wrapped wet wipes so he could clean his own hands off. 

“Sounds like a very convenient excuse,” she continued to tease. “And unlikely, considering I don’t think I’ve ever seen you use a napkin.”

A smile stretched across his face. “Why do you think I have so many piled up in there?”

When he reached for another wipe, Annabeth swatted his hand away. “I’ll handle this. You just sit back and relax, since you don’t know how to use napkins.”

“You’re feisty right now,” he observed, settling in with his arms behind his head to watch her clean them both up. 

The way he looked at her while she worked, the hint of a smile on his lips and the affectionate twinkle in his eyes, made her heart swell. Those eyes of his had always disarmed her, and she thought when they met it was because of the unfamiliarity of their intensity, but she’d been wrong. The longer she knew him, the more disarming his gaze became. He saw her in ways she’d never imagined it was possible to be seen. Even when filled with lust as he’d been shortly before, even in the afterglow of release, he saw her soul as much as her body. 

She wasn’t sure why she wanted to clean them up herself, but she enjoyed the simple task of taking care of him in this small way, especially after the effort he’d put in to getting them there. It was also fun to feel his muscles twitch as she slipped a cool wipe under his shirt to clean where she’d touched him in the heat of the moment, or to hear the sharp intake of breath that accompanied her tucking him back into his pants. When she was done, his jeans pulled back up and buttoned, her shirt covering her again, Annabeth bent down and kissed him. His hands slipped back into her hair, holding her there and turning what she’d intended to be a relatively quick kiss into a long and lazy one.

“You know I love you, right?” Percy asked, when he finally decided to let her go, his lips brushing against hers.

The question was so absurd, she had to laugh. “Of course I do.”

“Let’s stay here forever. We can live in Bessie,” he suggested, his thumb like a feather against her cheek.

“You promised Hazel marshmallows,” Annabeth reminded him.

Percy groaned, as if being reminded of his promise was the only thing that could possibly ruin his plan. “I guess we should go, then,” he agreed with a heavy sigh. “We would have been able to make a clean getaway, but I had to promise Hazel marshmallows.”

Annabeth hummed, reluctantly pulling herself away from him and climbing back into the passenger seat. Laying there so long had been a bad idea, because her body was stiff and complained loudly with every move she made. “You should really be more careful with your promises, Seaweed Brain.”

“Probably won’t be,” he replied casually, popping his seat back upright and pausing a few seconds to stretch, his body easily taking up most of the space inside the car. The stains on his shirt made her smile, feeling strangely accomplished, the same way she did whenever she discovered she’d accidentally lingered too long on one patch of his skin and left behind a mark. She knew no one would see the evidence, but it was satisfying all the same.

“Did you really do all this just to get in my pants?” she asked, once they were on the road, headed back toward the cabin. It had become impossible to keep her hands off him, so she’d reached out and started playing with his hair. As soon as her fingers had threaded into his black locks, he’d hummed in contentment.

“I did,” he confirmed without hesitation. “And I thought this was the perfect opportunity for Bessie here to lose her virginity,” he added, giving the dashboard of his car a gentle pat.

Annabeth wrinkled her nose, though she didn’t bother pulling her hand out of his hair. “You ruined it. You absolutely ruined it.”

“It’s too late,” he said, unfazed. “Bessie is yours now, forever. A part of her soul will always belong to the goddess Annabeth Chase.”

“Does that mean I get to drive her?” she asked, pretending she didn’t actually kind of love what he’d said. God, it was embarrassing even to think about how much she loved his most outrageous nonsense, but she did. Annabeth really couldn’t get enough of him.

“We’re not quite there yet,” he said, solemn. 

That was more or less the answer she was expecting, but it still made her laugh, and he smiled when she laughed, and everything in the whole world felt perfect. Having something so wonderful scared her. Being so happy scared her. Annabeth didn’t know what to do with it and she couldn’t help fearing all of this contentedness could crumble just as quickly as it had filled her life. Something had to break. It always did, sooner or later.

“Will we ever be there?” she asked, trying to keep her tone light despite the sudden chasm of feelings she’d tumbled into.

Percy sensed the change, the subtle hints of anxiety in her voice, but he apparently misunderstood what had inspired it. After a quick glance at her he was pulling the car to the side of the road again. They were almost back to the cabin, if Annabeth remembered the path they’d taken earlier correctly, but when he’d cut the engine he said firmly, “Get out.”

“What?” Annabeth asked, watching in confusion as he climbed out of the car without another word and rounded around to the passenger side to open her door.

“Up! Out!” he insisted, waving his arm to hurry her along.

Too confused to object any further, Annabeth did as he requested. Once she was out of the car, he stopped for only a couple seconds to kiss her and then slipped into the passenger seat. "Get back in, you're driving," he finally explained, waiting for Annabeth to move so he could close his door.

"Percy, I was joking," she said, feet stuck to the ground.

"I was joking," he said, in a tone that told her she was being corrected. "You tried to make it sound like you were joking, but you were serious. Now I'm being serious and you're driving. You'll drive us home tomorrow, too, so everyone can see that my girl drives my car and is hot as fuck while doing it."

“The joke didn’t bother me, I mean it,” she objected, her heart pounding at a million miles a minute. There were so many things to unpack about what he'd just said, each one more thrilling than the last, she didn't even know where to start.

“Great, then,” he replied, but she had the distinct impression he was not convinced. “You’re still driving.”

Stuck in her spot, she stared at him, slack jawed. "You don't even let Hazel drive.”

Percy laughed, taking Annabeth's hand and kissing the back of it several times. "I wouldn't let Hazel drive a go kart. That's not about my car, that's about her being an absolute monster behind the wheel. You're not. If anything, you're overly careful when you drive."

Annabeth remembered the first time she drove with Percy in the car, from the airport to the McLean place in Malibu. She'd spent several minutes adjusting her seat and mirrors, taking stock of the windshield wipers, lights and blinkers, all the while being teased by both him and Piper. Piper had always teased her about her driving routine, and she figured Percy had just enjoyed the opportunity to jump in on ribbing her. It had never occurred to her that he was actually absorbing the information about her habits.

"Hazel is a monster behind the wheel?" Annabeth asked, doubtful, instead of risking making her heart burst by lingering further on the multitude of feelings his conviction was inspiring.

"The first time I let her drive on a trip upstate she got Bessie going so fast on the highway I thought the whole car was going to shake apart," he told Annabeth, and gave her hand one more kiss before releasing it. "Now, go get in. It's cold and everyone is probably already suspicious about what's taking us so long."

One look at the confidence in his eyes and Annabeth felt no more conflict. Smiling so wide it practically hurt, her earlier concerns forgotten, she rounded the car and slid into the driver's seat. Percy made no comment as she adjusted the seat, then the mirrors, but his smile matched hers and that made the whole experience infinitely more thrilling. He pointed out the lights, blinkers and wipers so she didn't have to hunt for them herself, and then Annabeth turned the ignition and felt Bessie roar to life.


	62. Chapter 62

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter contains explicit content.

Playing _Monopoly_ with Jason, Frank and Hazel should have been a very fun way to spend the morning. It wasn’t, though. While the other three enjoyed the game, Piper sat staring daggers across the board at her boyfriend. He was oblivious. Or worse, he didn’t care.

Being distracted meant Piper played even worse than she usually did and she ended up bankrupting out early in the game. Sulking, she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back against the foot of the couch to watch the rest of the game progress. It did give her a little satisfaction that in the end Hazel wiped the floor with both of the guys – there was something especially funny about an art history major schooling the economics majors in a game about finances. Also, it meant Jason lost, and she was nothing if not petty when she was angry.

Piper vaguely remembered him tucking her into bed, a kiss to the forehead, and then that was the last time Jason had touched her. No good morning kiss. No hand holding. Nothing.

It was made worse as time dragged on and Percy and Annabeth remained missing. Piper knew what that meant. Whether the need for hot chocolate supplies had been legitimate or a ruse, it was clear they were out there doing more than just running to the store. Percy had practically begged Annabeth to tag along, probably for that reason. He’d gone to all that trouble and Jason couldn’t even lean over and give Piper a peck on the lips.

Leo’s continued absence was also curious, but Piper was less focused on it. He was probably just dealing with the sadness of having to finally let Cal go, needing to be alone for a while. She could understand that and it definitely wasn’t something inspiring any jealousy.

Jason’s distance was just weird. While being overtly affectionate in front of others had always been something he shied away from, he would usually at least make subtle gestures – his hand on the small of her back, a touch to her thigh under the table, a kiss to her cheek when he thought no one was looking. Piper understood he was shy. She liked that he was shy. Those stolen, secret touches felt precious to her, made her heart race and butterflies take flight in her stomach. She didn’t need him to jump her bones right there in the living room with Frank and Hazel watching, she just needed _something_.

She was a needy person, someone who needed affection and attention, to be reminded she mattered. That was something she had always been able to admit to herself. Piper didn’t try to hide it, and Jason had always seemed willing to indulge her neediness. If anything, she got the impression he liked that aspect of her personality, liked being the one who was needed. Watching him sit there, smiling and relaxed, across the coffee table as Frank teased him about the game, Piper wanted to scream. She didn’t understand it and this distance was making her entire chest ache.

“I think I need some air,” Piper finally said with an exasperated sigh. “I’m going to take a walk.”

Jason looked at her, and she thought she saw his lips twitch toward a smile. “I’ll go with, let me grab my jacket.”

“No, you stay, play another round,” she told him childishly. Part of her did want him to stay, so she could have some space to clear her head. Another part of her wanted him to follow, mostly for him to fall at her feet and apologize. She knew wanting both wasn’t fair to him, but knowing that didn’t change how she felt.

Not sticking around for him to object, she clambered to her feet, slipped on her shoes, and headed straight out the back door. It was chilly outside, but her sweater did enough to stave off the worst of the cold. While she didn’t know where she was going, she didn’t really need to. The cabin’s small, grassy backyard opened up onto a stretch of beach and Piper headed straight toward the sound of the ocean. It didn’t take her long to realize Jason was following close behind. He wasn’t exactly trying to be sneaky, but she didn’t acknowledge him as she trudged along through the cold sand, her arms wrapped around herself for a little extra protection from the chill in the air.

Finally, after maybe five minutes of sulky, silent walking, Jason called from behind her, “You’re going the wrong direction, Pipes.”

Piper turned on her heel and faced him, her annoyance and frustration finally coming to a boil in reaction to his playful tone. “The wrong direction for what?”

“Good question,” he replied unhelpfully, now wearing the smirk she’d seen play on his lips back in the cabin.

Not in the mood for teasing or games, Piper rolled her eyes, groaned in irritation and turned back around to continue the direction she’d been heading.

“I can do this all day,” Jason called again, after another five or so minutes of walking, the cabin having disappeared from view.

This time Piper didn’t bother turning around, just kept walking. “Then do it all day.”

She figured he was going to fall back into silence, but after another minute of consideration he began to talk at her. “You know, Frank was kind of right earlier. I wouldn’t have asked for your number that night if you hadn’t told me you saw me face plant on the bar first. Even with Thalia’s pushing, even if you had kept asking, I would have just blown you off. I’ve never really been interested in dating. The few times I’ve tried it, girls always wanted me to be the person they expected, not the person I am. You saw the real deal in that crowded club and still wanted me, though.”

Confused, Piper stopped walking. She didn’t turn around, but she sensed Jason stopping behind her, keeping the same distance he’d maintained while they walked along the beach.

“I’m still not entirely sure why that was, why _that_ was what sparked your interest,” he continued after a few seconds, when it was clear she wasn’t going to speak. “And, clearly, I have no idea what I’m doing, because I meant to tease you this morning, get you a little huffy, not make you mad.”

“You did make me mad,” she admitted, at least a little comforted by the fact he realized it.

“I’m sorry,” he said with genuine remorse. “Will you come with me and let me try to make it up to you? Please?”

Piper still wasn’t sure what to make of what Jason was saying, but she decided to turn around and face him. The apology had earned him that much. “Where are you taking me?” she asked, making it clear in her tone she wasn’t going unless she got a straight answer.

“This morning Percy and I were the first ones up,” he began explaining, his hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket. “He gave me a tent they keep in the shed and gave me a heads up there aren’t any other cabins for a ways up the beach the other direction. I was waiting for him and Annabeth to get back so we wouldn’t have to leave Frank and Hazel alone to flounder around with each other, and then I was going to ask you to take a walk and surprise you with it, get a little time just us, without having to worry about everyone else.”

“And you thought you had to not kiss or touch me all morning to make that surprise exciting?” she asked with a disbelieving huff. It was a thoughtful and sweet gesture to go to so much trouble, yes, but she probably would have liked it more if he’d whispered it to her first thing over breakfast, let the tension and anticipation build while they waited for the opportunity to slip away. Even just acting normal without giving anything away would have been better than leaving her feeling ignored.

Jason had the decency to look embarrassed. “It seemed like a good idea at the time. Like I said, I just meant to make you a little huffy. You’re cute when you’re whining about things.”

“Well, I’m not really in the mood now,” she told him, turning her gaze out to the ocean. 

The day was overcast, the clouds in the sky gray with the threat of another rainy night. Their color, or lack thereof, was reflected in the ocean, turning the whole horizon into a bleary, monochrome panorama. It didn’t look like a storm, raging and merciless – it just looked like sadness. Cold, wet and miserable were the words Annabeth had used to describe what they’d experience in Montauk. Those words sure did seem accurate to Piper that moment.

“Then just come talk with me,” he suggested, his tone failing to sound as hopeful as Piper could sense he was trying to make it.

Agreeing seemed too easy. She wasn’t trying to make it hard on him, but it felt too easy for her. Going with him, spending an hour or two laying around in a tent, just the two of them, would be a wonderful way to waste away some time. Talking to him was always wonderful, if not occasionally difficult, but she knew she would let herself be eased back into the simplicity, skirt around her concerns until they faded into the background of the happiness she craved. Out there, on the beach, surrounded by the mopey weather that matched her mood, she felt emboldened.

“I told you before, that night in the club, I spotted you the minute you walked in,” Piper said instead of answering him. She hadn’t decided if she was going with him, but she could talk there on the beach. There was distance between them, a degree of safety in that space. Out in the open, words didn’t seem as powerful as they would be whispered in the intimate confines of a tent, or even in one of their apartments. “I made a lot of quick judgments about who I thought you were, and honestly, they were probably right in line with what people always expect of you. Even if you hadn’t face planted, I may still have come down to hit on you, but just in hopes of maybe hooking up. You’re hot, Jason. Really hot. 

“You did face plant, though,” she continued, her arms wrapping a little tighter around herself for warmth. “Every single thing I’d thought I’d known about you got flipped upside down in that one stupid second and suddenly I was so curious about you I felt like I was going to combust. I stopped just wanting to fuck you – although, admittedly, I still wanted that really badly, because again, you’re hot – and I wanted to _know_ you. I didn’t know what to expect, if your falling was just a fluke accident or if you were actually clumsy, why you were there that night when you really did not look like you belonged, and probably a hundred more things I barely remember. That’s why I went down to talk to you. That’s why I wanted you. That’s why I still want you, Jason, because you continue to take all my expectations and blow them away and I love that about you.”

“Clearly it’s not always a good thing, though” Jason said, his voice tense.

Piper found herself laughing, surprising even herself with the sound. She looked back at him, her heart aching at the distance _still_ between them, because suddenly it no longer felt empowering or comforting. The distance felt like it could crush her. “I guess, yeah, sometimes it’s not going to be the great, ideal, expectations exceeded kind of blown away. I’m okay with that.”

“I have no idea what I’m doing here, Pipes,” he confessed, and even from several feet away she could see his desperation. The usual brightness in his blue eyes was clouded by the dreary colors of their environment and they were almost as gray as Annabeth’s. “Thalia and Reyna are the most functional relationship I’ve ever had as an example, and they’ve screwed up a lot. Like, a lot a lot. Big time a lot.”

“This is as new for me as it is for you. And having Thalia and Reyna as an example is more than I’ve ever had. If anything, you’re the one who’s got the advantage here,” she told him. Sure, her dad was married now, but Piper knew next to nothing about his relationship with Naomi and, honestly, didn’t really want to. Movies and books were all Piper had to go on.

“Well, that’s depressing,” Jason observed.

“Yeah, it is,” Piper agreed.

Jason took a tentative step forward. “I love you, though.”

Piper didn’t step away, tears beginning to well in her eyes. “I love you, too.”

“I’m sorry about my stupid idea,” he said with another step.

“You’re forgiven,” she assured him. “And I’m sorry for being a baby about it.”

As he took his next step, he was smiling. “Tell me now if you don’t want me to kiss you, because otherwise I’m not going to be able to stop myself.”

“Jason, all I have wanted since the moment I woke up this morning was for you to kiss me,” she told him, a little exasperated by how dense he continued to be.

There wasn’t much time for her to dwell on the feeling, though, because the rest of his steps came in quick succession and then he was sweeping her into his arms and finally, miraculously, kissing her. Her arms wound around his neck and she pulled herself as close to him as was humanly possible. Their kiss was full of his apology and desperation to make her understand how much he loved her. Piper returned it in kind, not exactly apologizing, but still feeling hints of regret for letting her feelings fester, the childishness she still so frequently struggled with giving into.

The wind picked up off the ocean, whipping at her hair, rustling the loose fabric of her sweater, and it might have cut straight through her were it not for the heat of Jason against her. Slowly, the tender apology of a kiss began to transform. Jason’s hold on Piper became tighter, his lips moving with more purpose, his tongue brushing her bottom lip in a sweet, questioning gesture. Piper felt herself opening up to him both physically and emotionally, her anger subsiding, and she responded to his obvious growing hunger with a low, encouraging rumble in the back of her throat before allowing his tongue to slip past her lips.

Her fingers slid into his hair, making her wish for the umpteenth time there was more there for her to grab onto and smile into the kiss at the familiarity of the thought. Not once in her life had she known a lover well enough to have such repetitive thoughts – even though she’d had relationships that technically lasted longer, they’d never felt as intimate or significant. Not once in her life had she considered someone she had sex with a _lover_ , either, but that was beside the point. All at once she wanted him, desperately. She needed him, because she loved him, and because he was perfect, even as she slowly discovered just how imperfect he could be.

“Where did you say this tent was?” she broke away to ask, both of them breathless. Her desire was reflected in his eyes, some of the deep saturation they usually held having returned now that he was so close.

“Fifteen minutes back the way we came,” he replied, looking just as annoyed by the fact as she felt hearing it.

Piper whined and Jason smiled at the reaction. His scar shone even in the limited light of the cloudy day and she had to kiss him again, a messy, frenzied kiss that had her close to throwing him right into the sand and forgetting the tent altogether. With every passing second she wanted him more, and it was terrifying to realize it felt like she might crumple to dust if she didn’t have him when just a few minutes before she’d been entirely sure she was not in the mood at all.

Fifteen minutes was too long to wait, but it was the price she had to pay for her own immaturity. Somehow she pried herself away, whispered, “Lead the way, then,” and quickly fell into step beside him. 

Her feet moved lightly even through the sand. They were walking quicker now, so she hoped it might shave a little time off the trip. Even just a few seconds would be a relief, but she was sure if it ended up being ten it would still feel like thirty. Halfway there Jason shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over her, leaving him in nothing but a t-shirt to protect him from the cold. It was stupid of him to expose himself to the elements like that when she had a sweater to protect her, but she tugged his jacket tighter around herself and relished in the warmth all the same, a little smile on her face. It was exactly the kind of show of affection she’d been craving so desperately all morning.

When Piper caught sight of the tent she broke into a full on sprint. She could hear Jason laughing behind her as he gave chase, but she made it to the tent first, her heart racing and her entire body tingling with anticipation. Jason caught up by the time she got the zippered entrance open, his hands on her hips as he followed behind her.

It was a decently sized, domed tent, stuffed with a pile of blankets and offering plenty of room for two people to roll around in, even when one of those people was as big as Jason Grace. Piper half crawled in, immediately turning, settling herself on the pile of blankets and reaching for Jason. Having more sense than her, he had stopped to zip them safely back inside.

Once they were sealed in, Jason dropped to his knees on the blanket in front of her. Piper’s hands went to work, immediately tugging his t-shirt off. The skin beneath was colder to the touch than she was used to, after having been unprotected from the wind outside, but that only served to make him shiver at her touch. At least she intended to warm him up as quickly as possible. 

Jason was just as quick to start stripping her, pushing his own jacket off her shoulders and then tearing at her sweater to toss it aside. She hadn’t bothered getting dressed yet that morning and wore nothing beneath it. He growled at the sight of her and pushed her down against the blankets to kiss her again, both of them needy and a little sloppy. His hands wasted no time moving to cup her breasts, teasing and squeezing much more roughly than Piper was used to from him, and she moaned gently as her back arched up toward his touch. 

Her own hands had more important things to do than simply feel him, though. They dropped to his jeans and were quick about getting them unbuttoned, beginning to push them down. Using hands and legs together she shimmied them off of him with no assistance. Lifting her own hips to meet his, he pressed down and in unison they whined into their kiss from the small amount of relief the simple friction afforded. 

Already she could feel Jason growing hard. With every roll of their hips his erection grew, and in turn the ache she felt between her thighs intensified. Her hands slipped up his torso and around to his back, letting her nails drag against his skin, and finally their mouths parted. Both of them were fighting for air, the tent quickly becoming hot despite the wind whistling outside, shaking the cloth walls surrounding them.

They grew unsatisfied with the mild stimulation of grinding against each other fast. Jason released her breasts as his lips connected with her neck and his hands slipped down to start peeling off her leggings and panties. Using his own strength to lift her hips off the ground before Piper even had a chance to think about doing it herself to help, he pulled away long enough to rip those leggings off and toss them aside and then he was back on her again. His mouth found a nipple while his hand slipped between her legs. Such aggression and impatience was uncommon for him, but she wasn’t complaining in the slightest.

A whimper slipped past her lips as his fingers teased her, sliding through her without any direct stimulation. She felt him smile against her skin, probably gloating about how aroused she already was, and then tugged her nipple between his teeth and simultaneously pressed two fingers inside her. Her hips bucked against him, a cry of pleasure stuck in her throat, and then Jason’s fingers were moving with careful intent, his thumb brushing her clit with a gentleness that was almost infuriating, but also wonderfully sweet. The fumbling, uncertain Jason of the past was no more, replaced by a man who knew both what he wanted and exactly how to take it.

Tugging at him – his arms, skin, hair, whatever her fingers could even attempt to grip – she urged him back up, because she wanted his lips on hers and his tongue in her mouth and the heat of his body pressed fully against her. Piper kissed him with unfettered desperation, Jason returning it with the same fervor, rough and dirty. She lost herself in that kiss and the relentless working of his hand, until pleasure coiled so tight in her gut she felt like she was at risk of exploding in a very literal sense. Orgasm mere seconds away, she reached between him and grabbed at his arm.

“I want you inside me when I come,” she breathed, voice coarse, when Jason pulled back to look at her with an inquisitive, amused raised brow.

Jason kissed her once, quick, and then reached for his jacket, pulling a condom out of the pocket. She watched him get to his knees and pull down his underwear, her eyes scanning his body, down, up, and down again. There was very little light in the tent, the limited sun outside providing only the faintest of glows through the tent’s opaque fabric walls. Piper’s eyes had adjusted well enough to the darkness to see him properly, though, and she loved what she saw, the way his muscles flexed with every movement or the almost imperceptible sigh of relief he exhaled when rolling the condom on. Most of all she loved the way he looked back at her, gazing down with just as much brazen appreciation as she lay sprawled beneath him.

“Hurry,” she said, reaching for him again. The ache she felt for him was worsening even as the tension he’d so expertly built in her threatened to dissipate.

He smiled, leaning back over her and centering himself. “I love you,” Jason told her, his tenderness taking her breath away, an unbelievable sensation contrasting the teasing way his tip brushed against her. Piper had no opportunity to echo the sentiment, because he pushed inside her and the words were lost to the sound of a pleasured gasp.

Any other time she might have wanted to be a little more creative with their positioning, but there in the tent she only cared about the incredible feeling of him filling her, over and over with each thrust, about being able to pull him down and kiss him, chest to chest, skin against skin. They kissed, and the spring in her gut was quick to begin coiling tight again. Every needy, huffy sound she breathed was muffled against his lips, but he responded to them all the same, the pace he set unrelenting. Her arms and legs both wound around him, urging him closer and deeper, and in no time at all she was right there on the edge.

She came fast and hard, her eyes closed tight and her head turning away to break their kiss and let out a sound very close to a proper and unrestrained scream. Each of his subsequent thrusts had her letting out echoing, loud moans, the world shrinking to nothing more than those intense, blinding strikes of pleasure. It dragged on, her nails digging into his back so hard she knew, somewhere in the back of her mind, she was leaving marks, but not having the clarity of mind to care. Considering he followed her into orgasm almost immediately after, she doubted he cared about the scratches that she was leaving behind, either.

When he was spent, he went all but limp above her, just barely holding himself up on his own arms. Piper’s mind began to clear, her breathing so labored it was almost painful, and she flattened her palms against Jason’s back to gently caress over the abrasions she’d made. Her toes curled when, shortly after, he pulled out of her, and then they laid there as seconds turned to minutes and their breathing evened, his face tucked in the crook of her neck.

Piper wasn’t sure how much time passed before he finally collapsed at her side. She allowed him enough time to take care of his condom, but then rolled to press herself against him, still desperate to be as close as possible. Jason wrapped an arm around her and pulled her to him, his thumb beginning to trace light circles where his palm rested on her hip.

Her thoughts wandered, replaying the events of the morning, processing her feelings and trying to sort through how it had all escalated so quickly. Nuzzling her face against his chest, feeling the steady beat of his heart beneath it, she knew she didn’t want to leave that tent without talking through things properly. She wasn’t angry anymore. His apology had been sincere and sufficient. Still, to avoid a repeat in the future, it was important they both understood exactly what had gone wrong. She wanted to avoid a repeat. They had plenty of new mistakes to make in the future, Piper was sure.

“I don’t mind you teasing me,” she finally said, voice muffled against his chest, but hopefully loud enough to be heard. “I just really didn’t like being teased in that way. Being ignored all morning was… It made me feel like I didn’t matter, or like I was invisible. I spent a lot of my life feeling that way and I guess I’m extra sensitive to it.”

Jason pulled back just enough to tilt her head up and look her in the eye. “I’m sorry,” he said again, just as repentant as he’d been earlier. “I never want you to feel that way, Pipes. You matter more to me than most anything in my life ever has.”

A smile pulled at her lips and she nodded. “I know, don’t worry.”

“How should I tease you next time instead?” he asked, and though there was a playfulness in his voice, she sensed the question wasn’t a joke. Jason wanted to better understand her boundaries and limits, to be able to push her buttons without actually causing her pain, something that would be enjoyable for both of them. Piper definitely wanted that, too.

“Next time,” she started, throwing a leg over him, thinking fondly about what that next time might look like, “instead of withholding affection, taunt me with too much of it. Get my motor running even though I think there’s nowhere to go, so I’m frustrated and annoyed at the situation, but still very happy with you.”

He laughed, his hand slowly beginning to move back down her body, dragging a finger down her spine and making her shiver, then laying his palm flat against her ass to give it a squeeze. “Getting your motor running is a favorite pastime of mine.”

“You’re a big dork, you know that?” she teased, echoing his laugh with a breathless one of her own.

“I just can’t get enough of you, Miss McLean,” he replied without shame, his voice somehow both soft and heavy at once, making her very sure he was about to try his best to there in that tent, regardless.

Maybe, Piper thought as he rolled on top of her and his hand slipped between her thighs again, she didn’t quite mind the arguing, getting mad and airing their grievances openly. Not just for the sake of great sex, though that certainly was a nice bonus. Laying there, having expressed their uncertainties and fears, Piper felt lighter than she had in weeks. She understood better how Jason felt about their relationship. He was just as scared and uncertain as she was, and that, in a strange way, was a comfort.


	63. Chapter 63

“What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?”

Piper’s eyes were sparkling as she asked the question, surrounded by a green mask slathered all over face. Sitting against the headboard of the bed, Hazel considered the question, face equally green. Annabeth had opted out of the mud mask, and instead gone for a moisturizing sheet. The three of them had locked themselves in the master bedroom for the afternoon, not that Annabeth particularly trusted the locks in this cabin after the previous night, for a little get to know each other better girl time. Even though Piper and Annabeth knew each other inside and out, the three girls were taking turns asking questions and then each answering.

Annabeth had noted, when Piper and Jason had finally made it back to the cabin, that Piper seemed especially tired. She made a few pointed jokes about the very long and vigorous _walk_ the two had gone on and was pleased to watch an incriminating blush rise on Jason’s cheeks every time. A few times Piper tried poking back with jokes about the _ride_ Annabeth and Percy had taken, but the reactions she got were much less satisfying and she’d lost interest in teasing pretty quickly. If Frank and Hazel caught the double meaning behind the little jabs, they said nothing. Leo, on the other hand, had both returned from driving Cal home in a very good mood and understood completely, which meant he was eager to jump in on the teasing of both couples even though he barely knew Piper and Jason.

Out in the living room the guys were entertaining themselves with cards and board games. Annabeth wasn’t sure what exactly they were playing, but it was loud. Every few minutes there was an explosion of yelling, then the four of them would calm down again, only to burst into the same arguments again. Leo was without a doubt the loudest, with Percy and Jason tied for second. Occasionally Frank would shout something and his voice would boom through the walls more clearly than the rest, but still too muffled by the walls to really understand. At least they were enjoying themselves.

“For my eleventh birthday, my dad got me a horse,” Hazel began her answer, sitting up a little straighter, the grin creeping up on her face threatening to crack the mud of her mask.

“Did you kiss the hot stable boy?” Piper asked, her tone light with teasing. Annabeth smacked her in the arm with an admonishing glare.

Hazel laughed. “Yes, but it happened much later and that’s not the story.”

It was their turn for screaming – well, mostly Piper’s. Annabeth expressed her surprise much quieter, with a dropped jaw and a laugh. Hazel let them get out the worst of their indignation and then picked back up where she left off, pleased to have caught them both so off guard. “It was a few months after Sally and Percy had moved back to the city and I missed them like crazy, so I got this idea that I could just ride my horse to see them. I made it about ten miles off our estate before some cop caught me and called my dad. It was a whole thing and I wasn’t allowed to ride at all for months after as punishment.”

“ _Ten miles_ ,” Annabeth echoed, her mouth still hanging open. “How long did that take?”

“A few hours, I think?” Hazel answered with a shrug. “I probably would have made it a lot farther if that cop hadn’t caught me, but an eleven year old trotting down the side of the road alone and on horseback attracts a lot of attention.”

“Yeah, I would think so,” Piper agreed, staring at Hazel in complete awe. Annabeth related to the feeling all too well. “I don’t think either of us have ever done anything that measures up to trying to run away on horseback.”

“I tried to run away when I was six,” Annabeth said, almost defensively, because she was not going to have her own attempts be so easily written off. It wasn’t exactly a story she remembered fondly, considering all the trouble she’d been in when her dad and step-mom had tracked her down after a day, but she still thought she’d done a pretty impressive thing for a six year old.

Piper knew this, of course, and did not look amused by the attempt to sound as cool as Hazel. “Not on horseback, though. Literally nothing is as awesome as that. I don’t make the rules, Chase.”

“Whatever, you’re just jealous you never thought of running,” Annabeth replied, resisting the urge to flip Piper off and sticking her tongue out instead.

Like the grown adult she was, Piper stuck her tongue out at Annabeth, too. “Think carefully about your craziest thing while I go wash this mask off. If it’s not what I’m thinking of, I am absolutely going to expose you to Hazel.”

That threat was much more frightening than it should have been, mostly because the only thing Annabeth could think of in that moment was what she’d done with Percy just that morning. Piper glared at her for a few more seconds and then disappeared out the door just as another round of shouting started in the living room. With the door open Annabeth could make out Jason yelling something about Leo being a cheater while Leo cheered, “I am the _greatest_!”

“I’m glad we’re in here,” Hazel said, staring in the direction of the door long after it was closed.

“Leo seems to be in a good mood,” Annabeth observed, wondering what Hazel’s impression of the situation was. Percy knew about Leo’s feelings for Cal, but she wasn’t sure if Hazel did. It seemed strange to her that Hazel wouldn’t, but at the same time Percy had never said Leo had told him explicitly. There was a strong possibility Percy had only picked up on it, never had it actually confirmed, or an even stronger possibility that the confirmation had only come during the fight he and Leo had freshman year, something admitted in a fit of anger.

Hazel continued to stare at the door, concern etching its way onto her face even through the hardening mud mask. “It’s hard to tell with him. If he’s upset he’ll act like he’s the happiest ever and nothing’s wrong, but he doesn’t hold back when he’s _actually_ happy, either. Leo’s dumb that way.”

“What was it like when you two dated?” Annabeth asked, finally deciding to peel off her own mask. A small part of her had been curious about that dynamic since the first time Percy had mentioned it to them at karaoke, but she’d not felt like it was her place to bring it up before then.

“Dumb,” Hazel repeated, rolling her eyes. “I don’t know what either of us were thinking. Percy was right when he said we never even held hands.”

Free of her mask, Annabeth decided it was time to dig into the barbecue chips, smiling around one as she brought it to her lips. “Was this before or after you kissed the stable boy?”

“After, which is why it was extra dumb,” Hazel said, a little mirth beginning to seep back into her expression. “Being so nervous and awkward didn’t make sense.”

“Having kissed someone doesn’t automatically mean you don’t feel nervous or awkward the next time around,” Annabeth said, though she couldn’t help smiling at the way Hazel made light of her own uncomfortable past.

Her mask continuing to harden, Hazel’s words were becoming stiff and stunted, but she didn’t let that stop her from keeping the conversation going. “Were you nervous and awkward with Percy at first?”

Annabeth chewed another few chips as she thought about the question. So many factors had played a hand in her journey where Percy had been involved. Predominantly her fear had held her back, something that was still hanging over her, though in much smaller and less significant ways. She probably should have been nervous, and she often was when she was on her own and at the mercy of her own overthinking, but from the very beginning she’d felt an inexplicable confidence any time she was with him. There were awkward moments, of course, especially before she fully understood how she felt, but they had paled in comparison to how natural it was being with him.

“Once I was sure of how he felt, and once I was confident in my own feelings, no,” she finally answered, a small smile playing at her lips. “After that it all came naturally.”

Hazel looked like she was going to say something else, but Piper returned at that moment. “I’m going to wash up, too,” she said instead, slipping to the floor and disappearing.

“Did I interrupt something?” Piper asked, plopping back down on the bed with eyebrows raised at Hazel’s quick escape.

Suspicious but unsure, Annabeth shrugged and shoved a few more chips into her mouth. When Hazel returned they picked their game back up. Annabeth confessed to climbing down four stories on the trellis of their dorm to sneak out and make a run for snacks while they’d been having an unsanctioned co-ed party in tenth grade. Everyone had thought she was going to die trying to make it down. Piper insisted it was just luck that she survived, but Annabeth had been spending a lot of time on their school gym’s rock wall that year. Piper confessed next, telling the story of the time she’d crashed some A-List Hollywood party her dad had been throwing while she’d been home the summer before ninth grade. The party’s dress code had been black tie. Piper had waltzed right in wearing a Winnie the Pooh onesie.

When Annabeth’s turn to ask questions rolled around again, she took the opportunity to ask about first kisses just to hear more about Hazel’s scandalous encounter with that stable boy. It was a cute story about a ride through the countryside, a small picnic and a smushed birthday cupcake, well worth sharing about her own nightmare of a Spin the Bottle induced first kiss to hear. Piper’s first kiss was along the same lines as Annabeth’s, though much less of a nightmare for her as she’d at least liked the guy.

They talked about their plans for the future. Piper had already applied to a position with the NYCLU, where she’d interned the previous two summers, and was really hopefully about it. Annabeth had a few architecture firms she was hoping might have openings soon, but admitted she’d become increasingly nervous about trying to find a job with only a bachelor’s degree. Hazel wanted to go into art restoration or museum curation, but still had a couple years before she needed to decide.

Simple things were discussed, too, like favorite colors, movies and books. Those questions might have felt forced in the midst of more personal ones, but it was nice to hear Hazel talk about how she loved the color green – green like the new growth on pine trees, bright and fresh – or listen to Piper explain why Dr. Seuss’s _Oh, the Places You’ll Go_ was actually one of the most important works of modern literature. Annabeth loved the adorable look of curiosity on Hazel’s face as she listened whenever either of the other two were talking, the way she grew more confident talking about herself as the hours ticked by and they became more familiar with each other.

They had laid down in the midst of their story telling, a cross stitch of sorts with Annabeth’s head on Piper’s stomach and Hazel’s on Annabeth’s. Piper was in the midst of describing the series of events that had led up to her tattoo when a knock on the door interrupted her. Hazel jumped up to answer it, the smile she’d already been wearing growing tenfold at the sight of Frank on the other side of it.

“Percy and Leo said dinner’s going to be ready soon,” he told them, a tentative smile pulling at his lips in reaction to the way Hazel shone. His cheeks were touched with a hint of pink, too.

“We’ll be out soon,” Hazel told him with a nod.

“They’re making stir fry,” he added after a few seconds, his smile continuing to grow. 

“They make really great stir fry. I think you’ll like it,” she said, making Frank chuckle. That was something Annabeth had noticed over the course of their lunch outings – any time Hazel suggested a dish or said she thought Frank would enjoy this or that, he’d always order it without any further question. The two of them stood at the door for a few more seconds, just smiling, then Frank ducked his head and shuffled back down the hall toward the main rooms.

Both Piper and Annabeth watched as Hazel practically floated back to the bed. Since the party at which Frank had admitted to having feelings for Hazel, Annabeth had been watching them closely. They floated between as awkward as any two people could be and a quiet, comfortable dynamic Annabeth found sweet and adorable. It was fluttering hands, furtive glances and sentiments unspoken but obvious for all to see. It was more obvious things like at the door, too, smiles so bright they could melt anyone even just watching, excuses made to walk to and from lunch together, and the way Hazel had practically exploded trying to invite Frank on their weekend getaway.

Even just that morning, everyone had been so cautious about leaving Frank and Hazel alone, worried they’d be too awkward on their own. That had been wrong. When Percy and Annabeth had returned from their little adventure and discovered Piper and Jason were gone, Frank and Hazel were still seated at the coffee table, playing a game of _Slapjack_. Frank had almost the entire deck and Hazel was furious about it, which Annabeth would have thought would make him back down. Not the case. She’d been the sorest loser Annabeth had ever seen and Frank had done nothing but gloat and tease her in return. When their second hand went the other way, Frank was just as sore and Hazel gloated just as much.

For weeks and months everyone had sat back and observed the uncertain dance Frank and Hazel were locked in, but Annabeth was tired of gentle nudges and plotting. Sometimes people just needed to be encouraged outright. That’s what she had needed. Piper had given it to her and it was time to pay that happiness forward.

“You should ask Frank out. I don’t think he’s going to make the first move,” Annabeth said, a rush of satisfaction coming as Hazel’s eyes went a little wide.

“I don’t– I didn’t– That’s not–” Hazel stuttered, trying to find some excuse to deny them without outright lying to their faces, her eyes wide. “If he wanted to, wouldn’t he have asked me already?”

Piper snorted, sitting up so she could look at Hazel directly while talking. “Frank and Jason are a lot alike. I’m not sure whether it’s because they were raised so similarly or because they just naturally have these things in common, but that doesn’t matter. I have to be very direct with Jason, and even then he sometimes misses my hints when I drop them. On our first date I _asked_ him to kiss me and he still chickened out.”

“Is it just a guy thing? Percy’s not like that, is he?” Hazel asked, her gaze dropping to where Annabeth was still laying on the bed.

Annabeth had to stop and thinking about it, because she wasn’t entirely sure. “Percy is a lot more outspoken than Frank or Jason, but in a way he kind of is. He likes me to be direct about what I want and what I’m comfortable with.”

“Frank likes you a lot, Hazel,” Piper continued, wearing an encouraging smile. “He’s probably scared of being too direct in case you don’t feel the same, or because he thinks he’s going to screw it up, or both.”

Head hung and eyes locked on her fingers as she wrung them in her lap, Hazel thought silently for a few seconds and then sighed. “He’s not the only one who’s scared of those things.”

“You don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with,” Annabeth said, finally sitting up herself and reaching for one of Hazel’s hands. Beside Annabeth, Piper was nodding in agreement. “If you’re happy with the way things are, don’t worry about it or force yourself.”

“But also,” Piper said, her voice full of gentle encouragement, “go for it if you want to. Putting yourself out there is terrifying, but it’s also totally worth the risk.”

Hazel gnawed on her bottom lip for a few seconds, her gaze switching between Piper and Annabeth’s faces, and then she smiled. “I’m going to do it.”

“Well, let’s get out there,” Annabeth replied, giving Hazel’s hand a squeeze. 

Out in the kitchen music was blaring out of a wireless speaker set on the counter. Percy and Leo were at the stove side by side, singing along with the end of Harry Styles’ _Watermelon Sugar_ while they managed two pans each on all four of the burners. That sight alone had giddiness bubbling in Annabeth’s stomach, but it was the way Jason and Frank were swaying in time with the music as they set the table that gave her pause. All three girls stopped frozen in the kitchen doorway, taking in the scene.

“They’re drunk,” Piper said, her gaze on the kitchen counter where three bottles of wine had been opened and drained. A fourth bottle was on the counter next to Leo and four glasses were scattered around the kitchen and dining room. “They’re _wine_ drunk.”

“We ran out of beer,” Percy told them, words expectedly slurred turning just enough to grin at them for a few seconds. Annabeth figured he only took the time to speak because the song had reached its conclusion and the opening lines of Shawn Mendes’ _Treat You Better_ had not yet started, because he was singing again seconds later.

Jason bobbed and weaved to the beat over to where the girls stood, snagging Piper’s hand and pulling her toward him. She was too shocked to object, stumbling toward him and letting out a laugh as Annabeth watched in a mix of horror and fascination. His other hand landed on her hip and then he was leading her around the kitchen in a dramatic slow dance not even remotely in time to the music. 

That would have been shocking enough, but a second later Frank was at Hazel’s side, his pink cheeks making a lot more sense in the context of how much alcohol had apparently been consumed over the course of the afternoon. He offered her his hand, the color in his face deepening and spreading. Hazel was stunned into silence for several seconds – and Annabeth along with her – but then she smiled and took his hand. The massive differences in their heights didn’t seem to bother either of them and Frank was light on his feet as the two began to sway around the kitchen with Piper and Jason.

Annabeth crossed into the kitchen proper to lean against the counter beside Percy, finally allowing herself to fully appreciate the sight of him (drunkenly) pushing an array of sauce covered vegetables and meats around his two pans. “Are you seeing this?” she asked, nodding her chin toward the corner of kitchen where Frank and Hazel were dancing stiffly, but very happily, like a couple of adorable middle schoolers.

Both Percy and Leo glanced back and Percy was beaming with pride when he looked back at Annabeth. “We had a little talk with Frank.”

“I gave him my blessing,” Leo offered, clearly proud of himself. “You know, as Hazel’s ex-boyfriend.”

All Annabeth could do was laugh. There’d been no planning to talk to them both, no plotting or purposeful meddling. It must have come up just as naturally for the guys as it had for the girls. Considering how happy the two looked, Frank spinning Hazel around and then daring to hold her a little closer once she turned back to him, Annabeth kind of figured this was the natural conclusion they were always heading toward.

“You’re hot, by the way,” Annabeth added, when she turned her attention back to Percy. She didn’t wait around for him to say anything else, instead pushing up on her toes to plant a kiss on his cheek before slipping behind him and Leo so she could snag the unfinished bottle of wine and take a shameless drink straight from it.

Whatever weird playlist the boys had been listening to switched to _I Wanna Dance with Somebody_ by Whitney Houston and Piper took that as her cue to abandon Jason and tug Annabeth into the impromptu dance party instead. Even sober, Annabeth couldn’t help letting loose. Piper was singing at the top of her lungs along with Leo and Percy putting the finishing touches on dinner and the atmosphere was so utterly cheerful. Jason didn’t even seem bothered by being ditched, leaning against the dining table and watching with a dopey grin on his face.

Even as dinner was served the group could barely sit still long enough to properly eat, though Annabeth was pleasantly surprised to discover Percy made amazing honey ginger chicken stir fry and would be putting this knowledge to future use. Music continued to play and they worked their way through another bottle of wine before finally deciding to finish off the harder stuff they’d started on the night before. Another hungover morning was well on the way, but not a single concern was expressed.

After dinner, a borderline drunk Frank and a very giggly Hazel slipped out the back door together to take a moonlit stroll on the beach. The rain had come and gone over the course of the afternoon, leaving behind it a star studded sky Annabeth was sure would serve for a memorable backdrop to the long overdue conversation they were having on that walk. When they returned over an hour later, the dance party was still in full, alcohol induced swing to the soundtrack of a playlist that made absolutely no sense to Annabeth (and she stopped trying to make sense of it when it played Vanessa Carlton’s _A Thousand Miles_ back to back with _Glad You Came_ by The Wanted), but was packed with songs they all knew all the words to. 

The awkwardness between Frank and Hazel, Annabeth noted, had all but faded, replaced with a shy kind of comfort and familiarity.

“Montauk is magic, you know,” Percy told Annabeth several hours later, when they were getting ready to say goodnight, neither of them quite as drunk as the night before but still well under the influence. “My parents got engaged and married here. I was conceived here. So was Estelle.”

“It’s a little weird you know that,” Annabeth teased, though it only made her pull him closer.

Percy shrugged. “Probably is.”

Laughter spilled from her freely and Annabeth pulled Percy down to kiss him, so full of pure contentment she thought she might burst – or cry, considering the amount of alcohol coursing through her veins at that emotional moment. She was sad they had to leave the next day. Staying the whole week would have been fun, but she knew Percy needed to get back to the pool, and at least their sneaky goal for the weekend had been accomplished. They’d have plenty of chances to visit again later, hopefully when the weather was a little better.


	64. Chapter 64

Piper had fully enjoyed the trip to Montauk, but she was admittedly happy to be back in the city.

Monday morning (and it really was _morning_ even though they were on vacation) she was standing in line at a cafe down the street from her apartment, desperate for a cup of coffee. Jason had woken her up at the break of dawn to help him get ready for a formal breakfast with his entire family. He was never one for fussing over his appearance or clothes, but he’d gone through just about every tie and jacket combination he had on hand in Piper’s closet – which was only a few jackets, but close to two dozen ties, most of which Piper had bought – anxious and unsatisfied. Piper thought he looked wonderful in everything he tried on, especially when he finally rushed out the door in a dark gray pinstripe and brick red tie that made an impeccable and timeless combination, but he still acted like it was only just barely passable.

There were two people in front of her when her phone began to ring, early for a call, but she was awake so she didn’t mind. One look at the screen had Piper smiling and she instantly accepted the call. “William!”

Over the month or so since their parents’ wedding, Piper and Will had begun developing an easy, surprisingly natural friendship. They texted sporadically about random things. Piper liked to forward him the obnoxious memes of her dad acquaintances seemed to be obsessed with sending her. Occasionally Will would call to chat, usually to vent about his roommate, who he was beginning to think had some moral objection to deodorant and shampoo. He had even dropped by the apartment to have dinner with Piper and Annabeth one evening the week before. Unfortunately, Will’s course load was especially demanding, which meant hanging out more consistently hadn’t really been possible.

Every time Piper mentioned Will, Annabeth got a snooty little look of smug satisfaction on her face. She’d been right. The fiasco of Tristan McLean’s marriage had resulted in something kind of wonderful. Piper had gained a friend, possibly even a proper brother with time.

Despite the differences in their relationships with their parents, Will actually understood a lot of what Piper had gone through as the child of a superstar. Naomi loved Will deeply and had been much more present in his life than Tristan in Piper’s, but Will had still always felt like he came second to his mom’s career, and often he’d had to swallow down the bitter disappointment of an absentee parent just the same. Fear of losing what relationship they had ran so deep in Will, it had been the driving force keeping him from coming out to his mom. Piper hadn’t pushed Will to talk on the subject more than the simple explanation he’d offered up the night they had dinner, but she also didn’t really need more to understand. If she were honest with herself, she’d suffer through keeping a thousand secrets about herself if it meant having the relationship with her dad that Will had with Naomi.

“Why do you insist on calling me that?” Will asked on the other end of the line, his voice laden with exasperated amusement.

“Because you don’t like it, duh,” she answered without hesitation. For a few days she’d played with calling him Bill, and once even tried _Willie_ , but he’d hated William most and, therefore, it had become her go-to. “What’s up?”

He sighed, but otherwise did not object further. “Did you get your package from our parents yet?”

“No?” she replied, not even bothering to hide the confusion in her voice. Piper hadn’t even known she was supposed to be expecting one. “What are they sending? Oh – wait, hold on.”

Her turn at the counter came and Piper made her order, adding a few shots of espresso and several pumps of caramel to her mocha. Once she was waiting by the counter for her drink, she returned to the conversation with, “Okay! Sorry, what were you saying?”

“Did you just add three shots of espresso and five pumps of caramel to a _mocha_?” he asked, instead of answering her question – this, honestly, was how most of their conversations went, answering questions with more questions and becoming distracted from the topic at the drop of a pin. Piper kind of loved it.

“Yes, I did,” she told him. “What about it?”

“Piper, do you care at all about living past twenty-five?” Will asked. She could hear the teasing smile in his voice, only the slightest hint of actual judgment.

“You would need that much caffeine and sugar to function if you’d had the morning I had, too,” she insisted, her voice instantly turning whiny at being scolded, even playfully.

“When was the last time you had your A1C tested?” he pressed, oozing clinical curiosity even over the phone. 

“You’re worse than Annabeth,” she replied with a roll of her eyes. Her coffee was presented and she greedily took a massive drink from it before heading out again, straight back home where she had half a mind to take a nap. “Focus, William. Why did you call?”

This did seem to help him get back on track, because he laughed. “Right! The packages. They’ve sent them to friends and family. It’ll probably be all over Instagram and Twitter by the end of the day, so I figured we should open ours before it hits the internet full force.”

Piper stopped in her tracks on the sidewalk. “Before _what_ hits the internet?”

“The sex of the baby,” Will answered easily, as if Piper should have been able to discern this information from his bare bones explanation. “The packages are gender reveals, because apparently our parents are old enough that they still think making a big deal about that shit is cute, but they didn’t want to bother bringing everyone back to Malibu for another party so soon.”

“At least they had that much sense,” Piper said with a groan, resuming her trip back to the apartment. “Have you opened yours yet?”

“Nah, I was thinking I could come over and we could get drunk while we did it together,” he suggested, the chipper tone in his voice making it sound infinitely less miserable than it should have.

“William,” Piper said, her voice full of the deep affection flooding her heart, “do you know I absolutely love you?”

“Yes, I do,” he confirmed.

An hour later Will had arrived at Piper and Annabeth’s apartment, a bottle of gin and the small package he’d called about in tow. Piper’s had arrived while she’d been out getting coffee, so they would each be able to enjoy the satisfaction of opening their own – or, more likely, they’d open one and just throw the other out. Unless the reveal was through candy or something, in which case Piper would definitely want her own, even if she knew Will would complain further about her sugar intake.

“Are you two seriously about to get _morning_ drunk?” Annabeth asked, sitting at the kitchen table with Will and Piper to be part of the very special gender reveal experience. It was only just ten in the morning, so Annabeth’s unfettered judgment was well deserved. They’d already poured themselves drinks – Will’s gin on the rocks and Piper’s neat.

“It’s the only way to handle this,” Piper explained, poking the package in front of her with her box cutter to nudge it closer to Will. He looked at it with a wrinkled nose and gently nudged it back in her direction. They’d been doing this about as long as Will had been there. Will had insisted Piper be the one to open it, since she was older. He liked to remind her she was the _older_ sister, as if a single year really made that much difference when they were both grown.

With a deep breath, Will and Annabeth watching her closely, Piper grabbed the box and sliced the tape open. She expected whatever was in the box to be either pink or blue, but that would have been far too easy. The crumbled paper strip packaging inside was both colors and set in the midst of it was a rubber ducky. The confused and curious expressions on Will and Annabeth’s faces matched exactly what Piper was feeling as she pulled a card out of the back of the box. It was attached to a sonogram of the baby, which Piper glanced at then handed to Will. It didn’t look like much more than black space and gray lines to her, but maybe Will knew enough to make better sense of what he was seeing.

Piper opened up the card and began to read, “ _What the duck is it?_ ” All three of them groaned and that was all Piper could take, she downed her gin and poured herself another glass.

“Is that all it says?” Will asked, the way he was looking at the card almost making Piper laugh. It was like he thought the lameness was contagious and he was worried Piper might have been infected just by touching the paper. Piper had no doubt he’d be out the door in a second if he thought she might infect him too.

“No,” she answered miserably, then continued to read, “ _Baby McLean is on the way! Drop this duck in a clear container of warm water and watch as the water turns either blue or pink to find out what the DUCK we’re having! Waddle you think it’ll be? All our love, Tristan and Naomi._ ”

“This was absolutely my mom’s idea,” Will said with a heavy sigh, picking the rubber ducky up off the bed of packing confetti and staring at it accusatorially. “You couldn’t have just been a cupcake?”

“I wanted a cupcake, Will,” Piper whined.

Annabeth looked at the pair of them with pity, and a ton of amusement, in her eyes. “I’ll get you a bowl of water, then.”

Will made quick work of his own drink while Annabeth went to find and fill a bowl for them, and they both finished their second drinks before she managed to make it back. The glass punch bowl Annabeth had picked was half filled with water. Piper wondered how many of the other recipients of these boxes would be snapping pictures of the process to upload on various social media sites. That, she realized, was probably something her dad and Naomi had both considered and were encouraging. The thought made her deflate in her chair with another groan.

“You drop it in,” Piper told Will, sipping on her third drink. “I opened the box, it’s your turn, little bro.”

Heaving a sizable sigh, Will dropped the duck into the water, drops sloshing out the sides onto the table. They watched as the thin white layer of paint on the bottom of the duck began to dissolve, Piper refusing to admit she was holding her breath. The water around it began to turn a deeply saturated shade of baby pink and, before she could think better of appearing anything but indifferent, Piper shot out of her seat and let out a cheer.

Will, on the other hand, threw up his hands and shouted, “Nooo!”

Over the rim of her coffee mug, Annabeth asked, “I thought you two didn’t care?”

“We care,” Piper replied, sitting herself back down and taking another drink. “We just think gender reveals are stupid.”

“They are,” Will agreed. “It’s exciting to know, but there was really no need for all this,” his hands flailed in the direction of the bowl, “nonsense. They probably sent out like a hundred of these things. At least.”

“And they said, ‘ _Waddle you think,_ ’ in the cards,” Piper groaned again.

“They’re probably going to name her something like Harvest,” Will said.

“Or Jean,” Piper suggested. “Jean McLean.”

“Eilean McLean.”

“ _Dar_ lean McLean.”

“Oh, no, my mom would actually love that name,” Will said, and pounded the rest of his drink to take the edge off the realization, making Piper cackle.

Annabeth shook her head at them, though the warmth in her eyes told Piper she was enjoying the show they were putting on. “You two were made for each other,” she commented, rising to her feet. “I’m going to go do some homework. You both enjoy your morning drinking.”

“Do you want a cupcake?” Piper called after Annabeth, pulling out her phone. “I’m going to text Jason to bring us some once he’s done with his stupid breakfast.”

“Red velvet, please! With cream cheese frosting,” Annabeth answered without even turning around, and then disappeared.

Pouring himself another drink, Will looked between Piper and the phone in her hand. “I was wondering what Jason was up to this morning.”

Piper’s thumbs flew expertly over the screen as she sent Jason a text requesting their treats – and used it as an excuse to add in a few supportive, encouraging words. “His dad is in town this week and so the _family_ is having a breakfast. All his siblings, their various spouses, and their kids. I think Reyna is going, too, even though she and Thalia aren’t married. They might as well be. He mentioned his grandmother’s came to the city for it, too.”

“How many people is that?” he asked, the look on his face making Piper laugh. Talking about Jason’s family always made people thankful for their own, much less messed up, families, Piper included. She would take a distant father, one step-mom, an awesome step-brother, and a single half-sister over Jason’s convoluted disaster of a family tree any day.

“He’s got nine siblings, although Thalia is his only full sister. Four of them are married, plus Reyna, and then they have five adult kids between them. Add in his grandmother, dad and newest step-mother, I think that makes over twenty people,” Piper explained, counting on her fingers to be sure she got the number right. The information was (mostly) available on the internet when searching up Grace Media Group, so she didn’t feel guilty for sharing with Will. “At least twenty-three, including Jason. Sometimes his mom or one of his dad’s other ex-wives will show up to things like this, too, depending on why they’re getting together, so who knows exactly how many.”

Before that morning, Jason hadn’t even mentioned the breakfast to Piper, though she’d discovered it had been planned for over a week. Getting Jason to talk about his family was still like pulling teeth. More often than not he was willing to tell stories about his immediate family, Reyna and Nico included, but outside of the four he lived with, Piper knew next to nothing more than the most basic facts about the Grace family.

Jason had been especially anxious before he left, but as much as Piper had tried to get him to explain what was wrong, he insisted he was fine. She figured he’d fixated on his appearance as a way to cope with that anxiety. It was her first time seeing him lose his cool so completely and it had left her very unsettled, which had been a large part of the reason she’d needed so much sugar and caffeine. Will calling to distract her had practically been a gift from the heavens, because she otherwise probably would have lounged around the apartment whining and grumbling endlessly until she finally heard from her boyfriend, and that would have been a miserable way to spend the first day of Spring Break.

“Nine siblings, holy shit,” Will commented with a shake of his head, then tipped his drink into his mouth again. “Thank God Mom is probably too old to have any more after our sweet little Darlean.”

Piper almost choked on her own drink. “William, we are _not_ calling her that, even as a joke. One of our parents is going to hear it somehow, love it, and then we’re both going to have to live the rest of our lives in love with Darlean McLean.”

“I don’t know, the name is kind of growing on me,” he teased, his eyes alight with challenge and mischief. Piper kicked his shin under the table.

“Do you think they’re going to stay together, though?” she asked, settling back into her thoughts. “I mean, they’re only married now because of our pending little sister.”

“Pending,” Will repeated with a snort, but shook his head. “Did Tristan really not tell you when they got engaged? It was almost a year ago. They were planning on getting married next year, doing something big after his next movie finished filming, but then mom got pregnant.”

As much as Will could relate to Piper’s frustrations, he really did not understand the extent to which there was no communication between Piper and her father. She scoffed a laugh, glaring at the drink in her hand. “No, he didn’t. How long were they dating?”

“Five or six months, I think? That’s why they decided on a long engagement,” he replied, his lips pursed in thought. “I hadn’t had a chance to meet your dad until the wedding, either, though.”

Piper laughed again, just as humorlessly. Her dad had been in a serious relationship for a year and half and hadn’t breathed a word of it to her. It shouldn’t have surprised her, but it did. It also shouldn’t have stung so terribly, but it did that, too. Knowing he hadn’t just married Naomi because of the pregnancy did make Piper feel a little better about some of her issues surrounding the relationship, though – particularly how they related to her own mother. 

“I had no idea,” she admitted, then finished her drink and poured herself another one.

“You got a gender reveal package, though,” Will told her, teasing yet again. They both knew Naomi was the one behind it, not Tristan, but it was a nice change of pace to be included without having to find out over trending topics or push notification headlines. “And a bottle of gin from me.”

“And soon cupcakes from my boyfriend for both of us,” she conceded, holding up her glass to clink against Will’s. “Although I could have done without all those duck puns.”

“Can’t believe they used _what the duck_ twice. That’s just lazy,” he complained with another heavy sigh. “Could have been worse, still. At least nothing exploded.”

They only got a _little_ morning drunk. Mostly they lounged around the living room while Will thought up better, more creative duck puns and they talked about school and life and nothing in particular. Piper’s favorite was, “Let’s _quack_ the case,” though the alcohol might have had something to do with the uncontrollable laughing fit she had after he shouted it in the middle of a completely unrelated conversation.

By the time Jason arrived with their cupcakes, Piper and Will were in pleasant, buzz induced good moods. Cupcakes made them even better. She noted the tension in Jason’s shoulders, the way he’d already ripped off his tie even before making it home, and the subtle set of a grimace on his lips, but didn’t press him to talk about how the breakfast had gone. Instead she made Will retell all his puns and let Jason join them in (what was by then _afternoon_ ) drinking until he felt a little more relaxed.

Even as they sat there laughing, even when Annabeth came out to join them and loosened up with a few drinks of her own, even when they ordered a late lunch and put on silly movies while they made a bigger dent in Will’s bottle of gin, even when Percy arrived in the early evening with pizza and Will decided to just spend the night instead of trying to navigate his way home drunk, Piper felt anxiety gnawing at the pit of her stomach. 

They were in the eye of the storm. It raged around them, threatening to consume them again at any moment. Annabeth’s mother was out there somewhere, aware of what was going on in Annabeth’s life but hiding in the shadows, poised to wreak havoc without notice. Percy was racing toward the summer, toward competition, and the potential of his secrets being spilled as a result. In a handful of months Piper would be welcoming a baby sister, knowing full well she’d need to face her conflicted feelings about her father if she was ever going to have a relationship with that innocent baby girl. Now there was Jason, back from his family breakfast and clearly unsettled by whatever had happened over the course of that single meal.

When finally Jason fell asleep with his head in her lap – the remnants of his unease finally melting away as he drifted into peaceful unconsciousness – Piper braced herself.


	65. Chapter 65

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> making a little note at the head of this chapter BECAUSE i realized while working on goldfish crackers for conversations that estelle's age was wrong. instead of five going on six, she is four going on five... the first estelle chapter was edited once i realized i don't know how to count, but a lot of you had already read it at that point! so now i'm giving you a heads up so you don't think you're crazy the whole time she's referenced as being 4 or almost 5. you're not, i just don't know how time works.

Over break, though he still had to go in every day for workouts and training, Percy did have the slight respite of not having to get up so unnaturally early. Annabeth enjoyed those slightly later than usual mornings, mostly because it meant she was more awake before he left, even if, like Wednesday morning, she was still lazily lounging in bed. Watching Percy get dressed was truly one of life’s greatest pleasures, though she had no idea why it made her so happy when it meant watching him _leave_ after all was said and done.

He was just collecting a few necessities to throw in his backpack when his phone rang. His brow furrowed as he checked the screen, but he accepted the call without hesitation. “Hey, what’s up?”

Annabeth watched as he listened and the crease between his brows deepened. His eyes darted across her room to her alarm clock and he said, “Yeah, no problem,” paused, then continued, “No, no, it’s fine. I’ll talk to Coach. I can probably get a few hours in tonight after you get home instead. I’ll be there in like, half an hour? Will that be too late?”

The concern on his face eased into a smile and he laughed. “Yeah, okay. Don’t worry. Love you, too.”

“Who was that?” she asked once he’d hung up.

“My mom,” he answered, looking momentarily confused as he considered the items he’d been stuffing into his bag. “She got called in for an emergency meeting and needs someone to watch Estelle. Paul’s school doesn’t have break until next week, Hazel’s upstate visiting her parents, and Leo’s still back in Montauk doing whatever the hell it is he’s doing.”

The hint of annoyance in Percy’s voice on the topic of Leo did not go unnoticed, something that amused her. They had their suspicions he was there to spend time with Cal, but he hadn’t given any explanation as to why as soon as he’d dropped Frank and Hazel back off in the city he’d turned around and gone straight back to Montauk. “He still hasn’t told you what he’s up to there?”

“Not a word,” he confirmed. “Last he texted me, all he said was not to expect him back until Sunday night.”

“So your mom is scraping the bottom on the responsibility barrel,” Annabeth teased.

“Ha, ha,” Percy replied flatly, though he was restraining a smile. “The only reason I’m on the bottom of the chain is because she doesn’t want to interfere with my training schedule.”

Annabeth frowned, only realizing then what his conversation over the phone had meant. “Wait, so you’ll have to miss today?”

“I’ll be able to get a few hours in tonight when she gets home,” he replied with a shrug. Percy played it off as if it didn’t matter, but Annabeth had the distinct feeling he was more concerned with the potential loss of pool time than he let on. Already he’d cut his time short on Friday to head to Montauk, then missed Saturday entirely. He would never let anyone else know it was bothering him, though, especially when his help was needed.

Without another word, Annabeth threw off her blankets and made for her closet. “I’ll go with you,” she told him, trying to sound firm, to make him think there was no point in arguing with her. “We can go to the pool together. Estelle can swim, right?”

“Yeah, of course, but–”

“Then I’ll keep her entertained, keep an eye on her, while you train. She and I can swim, hang out, walk around campus, whatever,” Annabeth continued, clothes in hand and turning around to begin getting herself dressed. Stripping off the shirt she’d been sleeping in had the desired effect of distracting Percy from objecting. He really was too easy. Since the plan involved swimming, she decided to just throw a suit on under her clothes – the blue one she’d bought especially for class and knew was Percy’s favorite, both for its color and the fact it had a neckline just a hint lower than all her others. Again, he was too easy. As soon as she’d begun tugging it on, he was grinning.

“We can all eat lunch together, too,” she continued, trying to hide her deviousness by smiling brightly. “It’ll be fun, and you won’t have to sacrifice any pool time. Unless… would your mom mind?”

Percy blinked a few times, swallowed, and then seemed to process what she was saying. “No, I can’t imagine she’d mind, but you don’t have to give up your whole day for this.”

Fully dressed, and therefore safe from distracting him too much, she crossed the bedroom, slipped her arms around his waist, and gave him a peck on the lips. “I didn’t have anything special planned for today, anyway. This will be significantly more fun than anything I could have come up with.”

“Estelle can be a real handful,” Percy warned. He was smiling, though, and she knew she had him.

“Good thing I have so much practice handling her big brother.”

They arrived at the Jackson-Blofis apartment in the promised thirty minutes even with Annabeth having to brush her teeth and pack a few things slowing them down. When Percy let them in, his mother looked so relieved she could cry. “Thank you so much,” were the first words out of Sally’s mouth. She was wearing a black pencil skirt and cream blouse, with a blazer hung over her arm as she juggled a briefcase and purse, struggling to get some pumps on. It looked like she’d had a rushed, crazy morning.

Annabeth, nervous despite how well her first time meeting Sally had gone, gave a tentative smile. “I hope it’s okay I tagged along? I figured I could keep an eye on Estelle today while Percy gets his training in, but if you’re no–”

“You’re an angel,” Sally interrupted, her shoulders slumping in further relief. “That is a brilliant idea and I love it.”

Percy put an arm around his mother’s shoulder and guided her toward the door. “Take a deep breath, relax. Get going, you don’t want to be late.”

“She’s still asleep, so you’ll have to wake her up,” Sally instructed, pointing down the hall toward what Annabeth assumed was Estelle’s room. “Make sure you all eat breakfast before you go, if you didn’t have time before coming here. She got a new coloring book while we were out last night and she’ll probably want to bring it. I left it on her desk, the one with the unicorn on the front. Oh, and,” she reached into her purse and pulled out a fifty, “for lunch.”

“Mom, please,” Percy said, pushing her hand away. “I can handle lunch.”

Sally glared at her son, then turned to Annabeth and held the money out. “Make sure he uses it, please?”

Knowing he was now trapped, Percy rolled his eyes. Annabeth smiled and accepted the bill. “You can count on me.”

“An angel,” Sally repeated, cupping Annabeth’s face for a few seconds. She gave her son a kiss on the cheek and waved to Annabeth. “Thank you both, I owe you big time,” she said, and then she was out the door.

“I think she likes you,” Percy teased, though he looked pleased by his mother’s approval. Annabeth was pretty pleased herself to have apparently already won Sally over. 

“Where does she work?” Annabeth asked, her eyes scanning the living room for a few seconds before returning to him.

Percy ruffled his hair, looking anywhere but at Annabeth directly. “She’s kind of a novelist.”

“What?” Annabeth said, her jaw dropping. In the search she’d done of Percy shortly after they met, there had been a few quick lines about his family on his Wikipedia page, but Sally’s name hadn’t linked to any other pages. That’s something she would have expected die hard fans to have dug up first thing.

“She uses a pen name, hasn’t shown her face, doesn’t do events, all that jazz,” he replied with a shrug. “Most people don’t know. Paul’s coworkers even think she’s just a stay at home mom.”

Flabbergasted, Annabeth’s mouth twitched like a fish as she tried to find words. There was an itch in the back of her mind, too. What Percy was describing was eerily familiar. “Wait, does your mom wr–”

“I’ll go get Stella up,” Percy interrupted before Annabeth could get the question out, all too chipper. “She’s going to be happy to see you.”

Annabeth called after him in indignation, but he disappeared down the hall just the same, leaving her to look around the apartment’s living room properly for the first time. It was a relatively small space, but it was warm and welcoming, lived in and homey. Some of Estelle’s toys littered the living room floor. There was a pile of what looked like exams on the coffee table, probably Paul’s, waiting to be graded whenever he made it home that evening. A half finished cup of coffee sat on the entertainment center, and Annabeth had a feeling Sally had abandoned it in her rush to get to that last minute meeting.

The walls were covered with family photos and Annabeth couldn’t help going in for a closer look, inspecting each frame carefully. There was one of Sally and Percy that looked to be from when he was in elementary school, Percy grinning wide in a swim suit and holding up a blue ribbon, a pool in the background. Another was of Paul – Annabeth had never met him, but recognized him from other pictures Percy had shared – and a much smaller and scrawnier Leo at the Statue of Liberty. One of all four of them along with Hazel was from Sally and Paul’s wedding, based on everyone’s attire, all three men’s ties matching the color of Hazel’s dress. The one Annabeth lingered on longest was one of Percy holding a newborn, red and wrinkly Estelle, the smile on his face shining, even as his posture was awkward and stiff. She’d seen it before, but it made her feel soft inside just the same.

Before she knew what was happening, there was a screech of, “Annabeth!” from behind her and then she was practically being mowed over by a bullet speed almost-five-year-old. Thankfully she managed to squat down and open her arms in time to catch Estelle, and then tiny arms were wrapped around her neck and Annabeth was receiving one of the best hugs of her life.

“Good morning,” she said to Estelle, laughing. Percy was a few steps behind, looking apologetic. Annabeth waved her hand to tell him it was fine. “How do you feel about spending the day with me?” she asked, leaning back enough to look Estelle in the eye. The girl’s wavy brown hair was a rat’s nest very similar to the one Annabeth’s had been that morning, and she wore a matching set of purple _Paw Patrol_ pajamas.

Instead of giving an answer, Estelle just cheered. Percy took this as her approval and came over to scoop her up, throwing her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “Let’s get some breakfast in you, then. What do you want? Cocoa Puffs? Fruit Loops?”

“Corn flakes!” Estelle answered, and Annabeth was sure no one in the history of the world had ever sounded so excited about corn flakes.

“You are your father’s daughter,” Percy complained as they disappeared into the kitchen.

For a few seconds Annabeth soaked in the warmth around her – from Sally, from the apartment itself, from the loving family in all those pictures, from Estelle’s hug, and from the way Percy looked at his little sister – and then she followed them into the kitchen.

They ate a breakfast of cereal together at the kitchen table. Annabeth brushed Estelle’s hair and managed to get it into a ponytail while Percy packed up what his sister would need for their day out. Estelle put on her swim suit under her clothes just like Annabeth so she wouldn’t have to change again at the athletic center, either, and like that they were out the door in a little over an hour. Estelle walked between them with her tiny hands latched onto one each of Percy and Annabeth’s.

Instead of trying to fight with Estelle’s car seat in Bessie, they took the bus to campus. Estelle talked most of the way, regaling them with stories of pre-school in the magical way only a child could, making the world seem like a much more interesting place than it usually was. Percy made a point to ask if Estelle had been hitting any more boys and she was proud to report, no, she had not punched anyone since the last time.

When they arrived at the pool they were met by a very grumpy Coach Gleeson Hedge, although Annabeth wasn’t sure she’d seen him be anything _but_ grumpy. He muttered a few things about distractions and noisy girls, but seemed sated when Percy assured him training would not be interrupted and, if the girls hadn’t come, it would have been canceled altogether. With that, Percy gave both Annabeth and Estelle kisses on their cheeks and then headed off to get changed and start his day.

“What should we do first?” Annabeth asked Estelle, admittedly feeling a little nervous about being alone with her for the first time. 

Honestly, it was the first time Annabeth had ever been alone with a kid Estelle’s age, and she wasn’t entirely sure herself what they should do. If she’d known ahead of time, she might have done some research, prepared some activities, found out if there were any spots close by they could walk to together that would provide appropriate engagement. She tried to remember what she liked when she was five, but Annabeth had been a bookish kid, even then, usually preferring to stay in and watch the History Channel or flip through those picture heavy encyclopedias for kids over the physical activity she got the impression Estelle favored. They had the pool, they could go exploring, and they had whatever Percy had packed in Estelle’s bag, which Annabeth hoped was enough to make due.

Estelle, at least, knew what she wanted. “Let’s swim.”

So, they did.

They spent hours in the pool. Estelle was a strong swimmer, both comfortable and familiar with the pool, but Annabeth strapped her into her purple floating vest and never let her get too far out of arm’s reach all the same. Percy’s workout was well underway on the other end of the pool, but Estelle never tried to bother him, sticking to the section of pool that was wider open for diving. They played mermaids. They played princess and pirates (Annabeth was the princess, Estelle was the pirate). They played sharks. They even played _Paw Patrol_ , which Annabeth struggled a little with, considering she’d never seen the show before. Clearly, that would need to change. It sounded very involved, from the way Estelle described it.

Every once in a while Annabeth would look over and find Percy taking a break, watching them from across the pool with a smile. She would flash him a thumbs up, letting him know she was very much okay and enjoying herself to the fullest, then Estelle would shout something and Annabeth’s attention would be stolen away. The next time she’d look over, Percy would be back at work. It felt good, being able to help him, knowing she was lifting even the smallest of burdens from his shoulders for the day.

A little after noon Estelle decided she was hungry. The two of them finally climbed out of the pool and toweled themselves off. Having a feeling Estelle might want to get back in later, they didn’t bother getting cleaned up and changed. Instead they simply pulled their clothes over half damp suits and then asked Percy and Coach Hedge what they wanted to eat. Coach was pleased to be included.

Annabeth and Estelle walked hand in hand on their way to get burgers for everyone, arms swinging. The sun was out and it was fairly warm for late March, making the walk an especially pleasant one and doing an effective job of drying Annabeth’s hair. “What do you want to do after lunch?” Annabeth asked, deciding to let Estelle choose again since the first attempt went so well. 

Estelle thought carefully about her answer, weighing it with the utmost importance. “Can I show you my coloring book?”

“Absolutely,” Annabeth confirmed. Resting after they ate sounded like a much better plan than jumping right back in the pool.

“Are you going to marry my brother?” Estelle asked a second later, staring up at Annabeth with an innocent and casual curiosity.

For seconds that felt like hours, Annabeth struggled to think of what to say. The question was loaded, not that Estelle understood the weight of it. Annabeth didn’t know much about kids, but she knew enough to be sure honesty was the best policy, so she decided to answer as best as she could for the moment. “I’m not sure.”

Estelle’s warm, brown eyes were more astute than any kid her age’s had a right to be, and Annabeth found herself growing nervous as she became the object of the small girl’s scrutiny. “I hope you do,” Estelle finally decided with a shrug.

“Why’s that?” Annabeth asked, laughing and surprised at how giddy Estelle’s stamp of approval made her.

“You’re pretty,” Estelle answered easily. “You make a good princess.”

Annabeth laughed again, this time harder. She supposed that was about as good a reason as any almost-five-year-old could cook up for marriage. “Thank you. You really are way prettier than me, though.”

That made Estelle giggle and grin, then she tugged Annabeth’s arm and instead of walking they were running down the sidewalk, dodging fellow pedestrians and earning more than a few dirty looks. Any other time Annabeth might have hated the glares sent their way. Her heart was far too light that afternoon to be weighed down by the opinions of strangers, though.

Percy was already cooling down beside the pool when they finally made it back with lunch. The smile he flashed the two of them took Annabeth’s breath away. He was always stunning, but as he sat there, leaned back on his arms, letting himself drip dry after his morning workout, his expression so full of love and happiness, the sight of him took on a whole new power. 

From the beginning she’d wanted him, been undeniably attracted to him. It had only grown more intense as she’d received her crash course in the sweet, extreme intensity that was Percy Jackson’s trademark. Somehow along the way, and even though she still craved his touch _constantly_ , it had softened to a warmth that pulsed through her veins every time she laid eyes on him, and even often when he was nowhere to be seen. She loved him so much it still seemed impossible, yet there she was, consumed by it even in the most mundane of moments.

Annabeth stopped a few feet short of where Percy was reclined as Estelle broke away and rushed over to launch herself at him. He caught her easily and let her knock him over with an, “Oof!” Their joint laughter reverberated off the pool room walls and Estelle whispered something in his ear. Percy’s eyes flicked to Annabeth and he laughed again. “Is that so?” he asked Estelle, who simply nodded and grinned at him.

Whatever Estelle told him, Percy decided to keep to himself. Annabeth joined the siblings on the ground and handed out their orders. Coach came out of his office shortly after and plopped down to eat his veggie burger. He was very interested in Estelle, who had apparently caught his eye while swimming, and wondered if she had any interest in competing. They all sat and listened as he rambled about creating a Jackson(-Blofis) swimming empire and how Estelle would be just the right age to take over when Percy hit retirement. It was kind of hard not to laugh, but Annabeth nodded along politely. Percy seemed especially exasperated by Coach’s rambling, trying and failing several times to change the subject just about every time Coach stopped to take a bite of his veggie burger.

However tired Annabeth was after lunch, she knew Percy must have been even more so. Still, once he’d let his meal settle, Coach was hounding him to get his butt back in the pool. There were no complaints from Percy. If anything, he seemed excited to get back. 

As promised, Annabeth and Estelle laid out towels on the floor and stretched out together so Estelle could show Annabeth the very exciting coloring book she’d acquired the day before. Several pages in it already had Estelle’s scribbly coloring in them and she was most excited to show them to Annabeth. Once the whole book had been flipped through, Estelle excitedly pulled out her box of one hundred and twenty crayons and got to work. 

Not to be greedy, she did make sure Annabeth had a page to color too. “I don’t like this one,” she said, ripping out one of the pages where a wizard was the main subject rather than unicorns or dragons. Annabeth said her thanks and considered herself lucky to have the coloring page shared with her at all.

They colored for a surprisingly long time. Annabeth had assumed Estelle would grow bored sitting around too long, but that wasn’t the case at all. Estelle talked about everything and anything that came to mind while they sat together. Keeping up with that little mind was a challenge, but Annabeth did her best to ask questions and engage to keep Estelle excited and talking. She remembered reading somewhere that it was important to ask kids open ended questions, ones that required more than just a yes or no answer. Putting that tip to work was extremely effective with Estelle.

It would have been a lie to say Annabeth wasn’t occasionally distracted by what was going on in the pool, though. Her eyes would drift there every few minutes, watching with fascination as Percy completed lap after lap. As the day dragged on, she could practically feel the strain his muscles must have been under. Percy never complained about being sore from practice, but Annabeth knew for workouts to be effective they were supposed to hurt a little after the fact.

On the occasions she looked up to see him once again watching them while in the midst of a break for water or catching his breath, a lazy smile on his lips, her heart would begin to race and she’d have to look away.

After roughly an hour of coloring, Estelle decided she was ready to jump back in the pool. Their second swim didn’t last as long as the first one, mostly because Annabeth quickly noticed Estelle was growing tired, mostly because she was starting to get fussy about inconsequential things and kept trying to sneak over to Percy. When they climbed out of the pool that second time, Annabeth decided they ought to get properly cleaned up and went into the locker room for showers. It was after two when they settled onto some towels on the pool room floor and cuddled up together, not an ideal place for napping, but it would do.

Curled up against Annabeth’s side, and after a long morning and afternoon of hard playing and adventure, it wasn’t long until Estelle started to drift to sleep. Annabeth smiled as she watched Estelle snooze, brushing her fingers through Estelle’s drying curls. She could hear Coach Hedge shouting instructions to Percy, the splash of him cutting through the water on lap after endless lap, as regular as any ticking clock. Estelle’s breathing was deep and even, a hint of drool already beginning to pool at the corner of her mouth. The sight made Annabeth smile and she pulled a towel over the little girl in a makeshift blanket.

It must have been more comfortable than she’d realized there on the concrete, because the next thing Annabeth knew Percy was nudging her awake. He was cleaned up and dressed, wearing a little grin that instantly melted all her insides. “I’m all done for the day. We can head out now.”

Annabeth blinked a few times, glancing around the room. “Already?” she asked, then looked down at Estelle, who hadn’t moved an inch since Annabeth had fallen asleep, still out cold and now drooling heavily.

“You’ve been zonked out for almost three hours, Beth,” Percy told her with a laugh. “Help me get Stella on my back? If we wake her up before she’s ready she’s going to be a nightmare, although her sleeping this long during the day is probably going to be a nightmare for Mom later, too.”

Together they managed to get Estelle on Percy’s back without disturbing her. Annabeth collected Estelle’s coloring book and crayons and tucked them back into her bag, then did the same with their towels. Once they were set to go, she shouldered both Estelle’s bag and her own and they were off.

Estelle woke up on the bus ride home and, after rubbing the crusties out of her eyes, started to regale Percy with the details of everything she and Annabeth had done during the day. Even though he’d been there observing just about everything, he listened intently and acted like it was all brand new information.

When they arrived at the apartment again, Sally was already home. Paul was late for the day because the debate team he coached had a meet, but she insisted Annabeth and Percy stay for dinner, so they did. Annabeth listened as yet again Estelle recounted the events of the day, and noticed that upon the second retelling the details became a little more fantastical and exaggerated, Estelle’s imagination getting the better of her. If that magical series of events was the way Estelle remembered the day, Annabeth didn’t mind.

Percy face planted into bed as soon as they were back at Annabeth’s apartment, letting out a relieved groan. She could relate, the unusual activities of her own day beginning to catch up to her and sap away what energy reserves she’d been running on from her nap. Still, when she climbed into bed after him, instead of curling up, she straddled his back and put her hands to his shoulders, kneading the muscles he worked so hard daily.

“This is a nice surprise,” he said into the pillow, voice muffled, sounding very groggy.

“You’ve earned it,” she replied, amazed at the way he relaxed in real time under her touch.

He hummed contentedly, a sound that made her feel warm and cozy. “You worked a lot harder than I did today, though.”

“Hardly,” Annabeth was quick to object. Estelle might have been a new challenge for Annabeth, but it had been a simple enough task keeping her entertained for a single day. While she was sure Percy was right about Estelle being a handful, the girl had been cooperative and good natured, listening to Annabeth’s instructions and complying with little to no persuasion needed. Being a new and unfamiliar person, one Estelle liked, probably worked in Annabeth’s favor.

“That little goober really does love you,” Percy said, the sleepiness in his voice accompanied by amusement at the thought. “Mom, too. I think you have some kind of magic over us Jacksons.”

“Yeah, well,” she started, feeling a little heat in her cheeks and opting to divert her embarrassment into kneading a little harder into a knot she discovered on Percy’s back, “you Jacksons have the same magic over me, so it’s only fair.”

Despite the fact that Annabeth had only just started the massage she intended to be long and extensive, Percy rolled over onto his back beneath her. “Thank you for today, Beth. It meant a lot to me.”

“Anytime,” she assured him, because she would do all of it again in a heartbeat, even with how tired she was, and even knowing the next time Estelle probably wouldn’t be so cooperative. His smile widened and she couldn’t help herself – Annabeth leaned down to kiss him, tired and lazy from their mutual exhaustion, but that much sweeter for it.


	66. Chapter 66

To say things were tense at Jason’s apartment would have been an understatement.

Piper had arrived Saturday night to sleep over and spend her now usual Sunday with Jason and his immediate family. They’d eaten dinner together, the boys had played video games, everyone had teased Frank about his first date with Hazel, which had occurred that afternoon and he’d bragged about with surprising openness. Everything in general had been, more or less, what Piper had come to expect from her time with those wonderful people. She noticed, though, Jason never seemed to relax, furtive glances from the others were constantly sent his way, and Thalia stared at her brother openly with a pained expression whenever she thought no one was looking.

Almost an entire week had passed since the Grace family breakfast. Jason had refused to talk about it, focusing on anything and everything else possible over the course of their week off school. It had been a nice week, relaxing and relatively uneventful, but still wonderful. He seemed to be trying to process whatever had happened and Piper wanted to give him the space to do so on his own terms, but the longer he remained silent, the more worried she became. Being around the people who had been at that breakfast with him and knew exactly what was happening only worsened her anxiety.

“This isn’t an easy family to be part of. I think Jason’s been trying to protect you from the worst of it,” Reyna told Piper Sunday afternoon. The two of them had been seated in the kitchen, watching as Jason, Frank and Nico got worked up over whatever video game they were playing – any other day Piper might have been over there getting invested herself, but she was too wrapped up in her own head. It was very much like the first night Piper had visited, although instead of beer they were sipping on coffee, and instead of feeling awkward and hesitant, Piper had become quite comfortable around Reyna.

“You seem to handle it well,” Piper observed, trying to offer a smile along with the compliment. What Reyna said startled her.

Reyna huffed a laugh into her coffee mug. “I know it seems absolutely archaic, but the family doesn’t really approve of Thalia and me, even if most of them don’t say it outright. That means we’re not treated the same, though. Different things are expected of Thalia, _fewer_ things are expected of her. I’ve also grown up with these people. My mom has worked for the Graces since before I was born. She’s one of them, to an extent, and that means I am, too. It still sucks, and I still hate most of their guts, but it’s easier for me than… than it will be for you.”

“How bad was it?” Piper asked, her voice becoming even quieter than it had been. There was no need to explain what _it_ was. Reyna would know Piper meant the family breakfast.

“Bad,” Reyna answered without hesitation. “I know Jason isn’t talking about it, and that you’re probably worried, but I shouldn’t say more than that until he’s ready to tell you himself.”

“No, I wouldn’t ask you to say any more,” Piper assured Reyna, feeling a wave of nausea crash over her all the same. “Thank you for that honesty, though.”

They fell silent as Piper’s mind went into overdrive. Her eyes were locked on Jason. The smile he wore, even wrapped up in his game with Nico and Frank, was subdued, but at least she was certain it was genuine. Jason, who was scared because he didn’t know what he was doing in their relationship but loved her so much. Jason, who went through the motions, did what was expected of him instead of what he wanted. Jason, who was, according to Reyna, protecting her – and that, Piper realized, was probably why he’d held back so much telling her about his family. Piper knew the Grace family was messy, assumed it’s ugly side was very, very _ugly_ , but she hadn’t considered until then that Jason would feel the need to shield her from it.

Jason had told her how much it meant to him that she saw a hint of the real person he was and wanted him for it. Piper loved that person. She loved the Jason who had tripped that night at Club Jupiter. She loved the Jason who blushed so easily. She loved the Jason who refused to take credit for the sweet idea of a double date back in Malibu. She loved the Jason who picked fights with Percy over the stupidest things. She loved the Jason who brought her cupcakes, and never hesitated to tease her, and loved her stupid tattoo. Those were the _best_ things about Jason, and yet they were also probably the very things his family had conditioned him to hide.

When Piper took a drink of her coffee, she found it cold and far too bitter, even though it was mostly creamer and sugar.

“There’s one more thing I’ve been meaning to talk to you about,” Reyna said, breaking the silence that had fallen between them. “Your roommate and… her boyfriend.”

Piper shifted a little, nervous about this change of subject. An unspoken understanding had developed around the topic of Percy Jackson. He was not brought up or discussed, but Piper knew Reyna was aware Jason had developed a budding friendship with him and that Percy was now a fixture in Piper’s life via Annabeth. Broaching the subject of Percy seemed dangerous, but since Reyna was bringing him up first, she nodded. “I’m listening.”

“I’m never going to like Percy,” Reyna began, saying his name with noticeable distaste, “and I won’t apologize for feeling that way. Jason needs good people around him, though. Strong, dependable people. _You_ are those things, and from what you and Jason have told me about her, Annabeth is too. I won’t let my feelings get in the way of Jason keeping you two close to him, even if that means Percy being around, too.”

A defensive part of Piper wanted to point out that Percy himself was good, strong and dependable, too, and that she had the distinct feeling he would do everything in his power to help Jason should the need ever arise. The four of them felt like a team, a team that would never allow any of the others to come to harm. This was an olive branch, though, and from the firm grip Reyna kept on her coffee mug, Piper got the impression it wasn’t an easy one to offer. She was doing it for Jason’s sake. That was something Piper could appreciate, too. What Piper liked most about Reyna was how steadfast her love was.

“Thank you,” Piper said instead. “That means a lot to me, and it would mean a lot to Annabeth, too. She adores Jason.”

“I’m here for you,” Reyna added, her eyes locked on the boys in the living room, just like Piper’s. “When things go to shit, I’m here.”

Piper couldn’t help letting out a strangled laugh. “You sound so sure they will.”

“They will,” Reyna confirmed, her voice pained. “They always do.”

She didn’t want to admit it, but Piper knew it, too. A feeling of foreboding had been haunting her all week. Reyna was merely confirming what Piper had been sure of herself all along. Something bad had already happened. Life was barreling toward Shitsville and the breaks were busted.

As the afternoon turned into evening, the others in the apartment began to disperse – Reyna to help Thalia at Club Jupiter, Nico for his weekly dinner with Hazel, Frank to have dinner with his father, who was still in town after the breakfast Monday. Jason and Piper found themselves alone, the tension that had lived under the surface all week threatening to snap. Piper was only more concerned after her conversation with Reyna, but she refused to push Jason into talking before he was ready. She would not let herself make anything harder for him, even if holding back was one of the hardest things _she’d_ ever done.

Thankfully, Jason was apparently ready. At least as ready as he’d ever be.

They were both poking at the dinners they had ordered in when he finally spoke up, surprising Piper with his bluntness. “My dad decided I’m going to be the one to inherit. All of it. Everything. His shares in all his companies, his money, even this stupid tower.”

Piper had been, admittedly, not sure what to expect. This certainly wasn’t it, though. It took her longer than she would have liked to think of how to respond. “I thought he wanted one of your older brothers to take over for him.”

Among the few things Piper had gleaned about the Grace family hierarchy was that the third oldest of Jason’s brothers, Herald, was the one set to take over family affairs when the day came Jason’s father either retired or passed away. While Piper had never met any of Jason’s siblings aside from Thalia, she knew this brother in particular was a crafty businessman who’d been working for various companies within the Grace empire for decades. He was married, with two sons of his own a couple years older than Jason, and a public figure of sorts by nature of his status, kind of considered the face of the family. In business circles he was praised, but in general he was widely disliked, and probably for good reason.

“He did,” Jason agreed, the furrow of his brow deepening. “Some… some things have happened these last few months, though. Harry’s been embezzling, doing a lot of really shady shit. I’m still not entirely sure the extent of it all myself. In a week or two it’ll all go public, he’ll be arrested, and someone’s going to have to take his place. Dad decided that someone is me.”

Suddenly not interested in her meal at all, Piper set her fork on the table and folded her hands in her lap. “Did your dad even ask you?”

“My dad doesn’t ask, Pipes,” he replied dejectedly. “He tells, and he told us all this is what he’s decided.”

“You don’t want it,” she said, not even bothering to mask it as a question. The fact was apparent in his face, in the way he’d acted all week. When they’d spoken about his future a few weeks before, he hadn’t been able to tell her what he really wanted in life, but Piper knew it wasn’t this. While this might be a different path than the one Jason had been on the last four years, it was just as forced on him as the other had been.

Jason shook his head. “What I want doesn’t matter.”

“Yes, it does,” Piper insisted, though she tried to say it as gently as possible. She was frustrated, angry even, but Jason was not the target of those emotions. “You have every right to tell him no. You have every right to choose what you do with your life. It’s _your_ life, Jason, not his.”

“People don’t tell my dad no,” Jason argued, finally giving up on his meal as well. His fork clattered to the table with much more force than Piper’s had, his frustration and anger thrown into the simple motion of slamming it down. “Even my siblings who’ve managed to get around him, they had to negotiate with him, had to give him a mile to take an inch for themselves. 

“Any other parent would be ecstatic if their kid wanted to be a doctor, but my brother, Apollo?” Jason continued, the words coming quickly as he continued to get worked up. “He had to put himself through medical school because our dad wouldn’t pay, said medicine was below someone of our status. Thalia didn’t want to go to school at all, but he promised her starting capital for any business she wanted as soon as she graduated – so she went, and then she opened her club, and it pissed him off, but at least she was doing what he wanted. When he makes up his mind, though, that’s it, no deals, no fighting it, no getting around him. There’s no getting out of this, not for me.” 

She didn’t want to accept that. Piper was hardwired for rebellion, had made a habit of doing what she wanted, asking for forgiveness rather than permission more often than not. Over the years she’d snapped at teachers when they picked on her, or anyone else, for that matter. Several times she’d picked fights with bullies very much on purpose, landing herself detentions and suspensions and never regretting it in the slightest. Their school administration had told them there was no way to add more vegetarian options to the cafeteria menu and Piper and Annabeth had refused so wholeheartedly to accept that answer they had staged a sit in. When she decided she wanted to go to school in New York, she _told_ her dad. There was no question of his permission or discussion about his opinion on the matter, not that she ever really thought he’d care.

Jason wasn’t that kind of person, though, not to the extent it would take for him to rebel against his father. Her heart ached, wishing there was some way she could change his fate, convince him he was capable of standing up for himself or that he didn’t have to just roll over and take this. She felt helpless to get the point across. Words failed her entirely.

When it was clear she had nothing to say, Jason added, “There won’t be any getting out of it for you, either.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, her mind instantly flashing back to the conversation she’d had with Reyna. _This isn’t an easy family to be part of_. Panic gripped her, wondering if that warning had been meant to hold some kind of double meaning.

“I’m not proposing, Pipes, calm down,” he said before her thoughts could get away from her, and even with all the weight on his shoulders he seemed to be amused by her obvious reaction. Shamelessly, she let out a relieved sigh. “You need to know what you’re signing up for from here on out, though. My dad’s going to want to meet you. There are going to be expectations put on you, too. He’s a massive hypocrite, and after this stunt my brother’s pulled, he’s going to expect me to be perfect. That includes our relationship, which means he’s probably going to be sticking his nose in it every chance he can get. I need to know… I need to know if that’s something you can handle, because if it’s not…”

At first she couldn’t tell what was happening, what he meant. His expression changed, his lips pressed into a thin line, and he looked away from her. Closer inspection showed his eyes were glistening with the threat of tears, like a pristine lake reflecting a clear blue sky. Jason struggled, very blatantly, to hold them back, taking deep, steadying breaths. It was raw, terrifying in a way. He was far from emotionless, but tears from Jason were something new and she’d been entirely unprepared for them.

He’d waited nearly a week – a week that had been full of lazy, relaxing days together at the apartment, long mornings spent making love and late afternoon lunches at all their favorite places, evenings with Annabeth and Percy, laughing about nothing, watching movies, normal, happy, perfect – to tell her about what had happened at breakfast on Monday because he was afraid telling her would be the end.

Piper reached out and covered his hand with her own. “Jason, I’m not leaving you over this.”

“I won’t blame you if you don’t want that kind of pressure,” he told her, a tear finally breaking through his tenuous defenses. “That’s not what you signed up for when we started dating.”

Unable to take it, she got up and slid into Jason’s lap, her hands on his face so she could brush her thumbs over his cheeks and wipe those tears away. He closed his eyes under her touch, more tears overflowing and cascading down. “I want you,” she told him, voice quiet but powerful with conviction. “I’m not going to lie and say the idea of you having to bend to your father’s will doesn’t piss me off, but I love you. I’m not giving up on us just because being with you isn’t going to be sunshine and rainbows. We face this together. We figure out how to make it work together.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, still not opening his eyes, and he let out a shuddering sigh. “I don’t want you do end up miserable.”

“Look at me,” she whispered, her thumbs brushing aside more tears, one of them sliding over the faint scar on the corner of his mouth. His eyes opened, still so full of pain it made her feel like her own heart was being crushed. “I would be miserable without you.”

Jason wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, burying his face in her chest and taking a shuddering breath. His voice was muffled and strained as he said, “I would be miserable without you, too.”

She slipped her arms around him in return, holding him tightly and pressing a kiss to the side of his head. As Jason let out everything he’d bottled up for a week, Piper simply cradled him in her arms. Her mind traveled back to her conversation with Reyna again. The warnings about how hard things were bound to become, especially for her, should have been more frightening than they were. 

This was a world Piper didn’t fully understand, a world she was likely unwelcome in. Countless times over the last few months she’d been floored by the difference even between Jason’s family’s wealth and status compared to her own. Tristan McLean was wealthy, but his money was new, earned in Hollywood and nothing compared to the world Jason had grown up in. Jason’s mother was an actress, but she’d also come from an elite background – and was now a pariah among her former friends, unwelcome in the social circles she had once been the star of and barely keeping up her lifestyle on the income from her acting.

Instead of all that, she found her thoughts lingering on Reyna’s vote of confidence. Even while Jason had feared Piper would leave, Reyna had maintained faith, believed in her. Reyna, who knew what it took to love a member of the Grace family, had never harbored a doubt. 

Piper wouldn’t let her down. Piper wouldn’t let _Jason_ down.


	67. Chapter 67

It was two days back into school after break, the last Tuesday of March, when Annabeth began to worry Jason was losing it.

Piper had filled Annabeth in on the news of Jason’s inheritance, with his permission, of course. It still seemed surreal to her, to think of Jason having what amounted to the weight of the world on his shoulders. His entire family was looking to him now. Some of them would be depending on him to keep order, maintain their livelihoods and lavish lifestyles. He would undoubtedly have extended family trying to cozy up to him in coming months and years, vying for better positions in the family and Grace businesses through him, using him to their advantage. Others, Annabeth knew all too well, would be waiting for him to fail, rooting for it, maybe even trying to sabotage him in their own selfish bids for power.

Annabeth didn’t envy him any of it. At least she knew where she stood with her family, for the most part, and always had. Her father had used her to perpetuate an image, but she’d known what she was getting with him, that she couldn’t trust or depend on him or her step-mother for anything more than a little financial assistance. Jason had his core family, he had her and Piper and Percy, but the rest of his relations were wildcards and she couldn’t imagine he’d ever feel completely comfortable with any of them moving forward.

There had been other things too, like his concerns Piper wouldn’t be able to handle the pressure this new direction his life was taking would put on her – and, honestly, Annabeth shared those concerns. Piper wasn’t someone who handled being put in a box well. Annabeth couldn’t imagine things would just be smooth sailing from there on out, that Piper would sit back and smile politely as Jason was pulled in all these different directions by the selfish and greedy people who would see fit to use him.

What Piper may or may not be able to handle was the least of Annabeth’s worries that Tuesday morning, though, because Jason had forgotten an essay worth half his grade in one of his classes on the coffee table at their apartment and only realized about forty-five minutes before the class was supposed to begin and the essay was due. He also hadn’t brought his laptop to school that day, for the first time since Annabeth had known him. He also hadn’t saved a copy on the flash drive he always carried with him, like he usually did. There was one printed copy and he’d _forgotten_ it.

Jason didn’t forget things.

Luckily, Annabeth hadn’t yet left. She had no morning classes on Tuesdays and was only just getting ready to head to campus for her daily lunch date with Percy. So, delivering Jason his paper and saving his grade fell on her shoulders.

Being the one to save the day was one of Annabeth’s favorite things in life, she could admit that. She wasn’t too bothered by having to head to campus a little early and rush through an unfamiliar building to find Jason’s lecture hall. If anything, the task gave her a thrill. Given the choice, though, knowing this was only happening because Jason was still so upset about the forced change in his life’s direction, she would have given up that small sense of satisfaction in a heartbeat.

With about five minutes to spare, she arrived outside his classroom to hand off the paper. Jason was sitting in the front row of the lecture hall and had been watching the door like a hawk, so he saw her immediately. The look of relief on his face made the slight inconvenience on her more than worth it, and when he got up to run out and meet her she was smiling at him with an overwhelming fondness.

Though he didn’t have much time to spare, Jason wrapped her up in a big, thankful hug. “You’re my hero.”

“And you’re an idiot,” Annabeth replied, not a hint of hostility in her voice. When she pulled back, she handed the essay to him and did her best to look peeved, but Jason was undaunted by her expression. Clearly she was losing her edge.

“I know,” he said anyway. “I’m sorry. I don’t know where my mind was this morning.”

They both knew very well where his mind had been, but Annabeth didn’t need to point that out to him. “Just get to class, Grace. That essay is way too good, and I put way too much effort into proofing it, for you to lose points turning it in late.”

“You’re the best,” he said, taking a few steps backward toward his class. “I’ll see you tonight. Anything you want for dinner, it’s on me.”

“It better be! I want lobster! And steak!” she called after him, trying to calm the storm of concern and affection raging inside her. Annabeth wasn’t sure exactly when she had come to love Jason so damn much, but watching him walk into class and lay his essay on the desk at the front of the lecture hall, she realized he’d weaseled his way into her heart and made himself right at home. After all the years she’d spent with only Piper to depend on and care for, it was weird to suddenly have so many more people making claims on her love. The best kind of weird.

The way she was staring after Jason was probably strange to any prying eyes, case in point being Jason’s professor. When Annabeth finally broke away she found the woman staring at her like she was crazy. Annabeth realized she probably shouldn’t keep loitering in the doorway when class was supposed to begin, so she shot the professor a sheepish, apologetic smile and turned to leave. Her introspecting could be done elsewhere and it was almost time for lunch, anyway.

Six steps, that was how far Annabeth got before her name was called from behind her. It wasn’t Jason calling after her, though. When she turned, confused, she found Jason’s professor staring back at her.

Closer now, Annabeth got a better look at the woman. She appeared to be in her late forties, with curly brown hair pinned carefully in a simple, professional style that hung around her shoulders. Those details were lost on Annabeth the second she looked the professor in the eyes, though. Gray eyes, stormy and intelligent and just a little wild.

“How do you know my name?” she asked, a lump forming in her throat and her stomach beginning to churn with nausea. Jason hadn’t said it. Annabeth had never seen this woman. Somehow she already knew the answer, though.

A thousand different emotions flashed through the gray eyes staring back at Annabeth, and then the professor steeled herself, lifted her chin in the same way Annabeth always did when she was trying to act strong but felt entirely too weak. “I’m the one who gave it to you.”

It made sense. That was the first thought to cross Annabeth’s mind. Gossip traveled fast, even at a school as big as NYU, and even when the gossip came out of the billing department, an office that probably should have been more discreet. Many professors had probably heard about the student who, over the course of two days, had been refunded a full cash payment on tuition and then turned around and paid up, again in cash. Annabeth’s name being attached to the rumor, one way or another, was also not too surprising. From there, she wasn’t sure how the connection to Fredrick cutting her off would have been made, but Annabeth supposed that didn’t matter too much in the grand scheme of things.

Focusing on those thoughts, working to a logical conclusion that had eluded her for over a month, made it a lot easier to stand there without dissolving into a panic attack.

“I have to start my class,” the professor – Annabeth _still_ didn’t know her own mother’s name, even standing there face to face – told her, nodding toward the lecture hall she just left. “Will you be free in an hour?”

“No,” Annabeth replied without hesitation. It was just lunch she had on her schedule, but she wasn’t about to cancel on someone who cared about her, loved her, for a woman who hadn’t reached out a single time in over twenty-two years. Even a thousand lunches with this woman wouldn’t be worth sacrificing a single one with Percy.

Only then did Annabeth realize Jason had appeared in the doorway of the lecture hall again. His gaze was steely with concern, asking Annabeth a silent, _Do you need me?_

 _Yes_. It was a shameless, selfish request, especially with how much Jason was already dealing with himself, but Annabeth needed a friend. A few months before she might have laughed at the idea of needing anyone who wasn’t Piper, and even might have hesitated to lean on Piper sometimes, but she was no longer the Annabeth of a few months before. Now she welcomed support, wasn’t too proud to accept it, and loved Jason that much more for being so willing to offer it to her.

Neither Annabeth nor Jason had a chance to react, though, because the woman who had been staring at Annabeth turned to him first. “Jason, please tell your classmates I still expect their essays to be on my desk, but that class is canceled.”

Jason’s eyes flickered to Annabeth and she had to try not to laugh at the way he seemed to seek her approval before following his own professor’s instructions. She nodded once and he huffed a sigh before stepping back into the lecture hall to relay the message.

“I didn’t say I had time now,” Annabeth said, when it was just the two of them in the hall again.

“Going back to class now wouldn’t be sensible either way,” the woman replied, and Annabeth wanted to both laugh and be sick over how much that sounded like something she herself would say. “I’d be too distracted to properly teach. I value my students’ time too much to ask them to sit through a halfhearted lecture.”

Annabeth wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do with that information, what she was supposed to think about it or feel. Even if she’d had hours to mull the thought over, she wasn’t entirely sure she’d be able to find those answers, at least not on her own, and she was suddenly very glad her weekly session with Dr. Brunner was only a few hours away. “I guess I could spare a little time for coffee now, then,” she decided.

“Let me get my things,” the woman said, pointing toward the lecture hall. They stared at each other for a few more seconds and then Annabeth was alone.

Jason was the first one out the door once class had been dismissed, and he came straight to Annabeth, wearing a decidedly concerned frown. His voice was quiet, gentle, as he told her, “Doctor Athena Pallas.”

“What?” Annabeth asked, her brow furrowing.

“That’s her name,” he said, his eyes conveying more than his words – Jason had learned Annabeth liked to have as much information as possible and he was giving her what he could. “She’s one of my Poli Sci professors, the best in the department, actually. Tough, but that’s what makes her good. She’s married. I can’t remember her wife’s name. No kids, though.”

She nodded in understanding, though her mind was struggling to process the information. “Thank you,” she said softly.

“Do you want me to stay with you?” he asked, his hand taking hers to give it a supportive squeeze. _Want_ , she noted, not need. Even if she didn’t necessarily still need him to stay, he would. He’d put himself in an awkward situation with one of his professors just for the sake of Annabeth wanting a friend by her side.

“I’m okay,” she told him, squeezing his hand back.

Concern still raged behind his eyes, but Jason nodded. “Do you want me to call Piper or Percy?”

“No,” she answered, her eyes darting over his shoulder to see Dr. Pallas had rejoined them in the hall. “No, I’ll call Piper when I’m done and talk to Percy at lunch.”

“Let me know you’re okay when you’re done, too. Just a text,” Jason said, with a confident nod and another squeeze of her hand. “Good luck.”

Annabeth couldn’t help smiling, her returning hand squeeze playfully hard and earning her an over dramatic whimper of pain in return as he snapped his hand away. “Thank you. And I promise I’ll text,” she assured him.

Jason was smiling, too, as he nodded one last time and then headed off to wherever he planned on spending his now free hour.

His absence was felt by Annabeth almost instantly, but she took a deep breath and looked to Dr. Pallas. “Do you have somewhere you like to get coffee?” she asked, because she had no idea what the hell else she was supposed to say, standing in front of her mother, apparently about to have their first conversation ever.

Dr. Pallas nodded and together they made their way to a small cafe just off campus Annabeth had passed countless times but never gone into. They both ordered black coffee. Annabeth tried not to read too much into the similarity in taste as they sat themselves down at a table and settled into an awkward silence.

There were plenty of things to look at in the cafe – artwork on the walls, plants scattered around, a spattering of students meeting with each other or working on laptops. All of it was more interesting to Annabeth than the woman seated before her. She didn’t want to look too hard. Looking too hard would make her think too hard and thinking too hard when she was in such an unprecedented situation could lead to dangerous and difficult emotions. So, art and plants and strangers were a welcome distraction.

“Is Jason your boyfriend?” Dr. Pallas finally asked. Annabeth was already halfway through her own coffee, the silence between them had stretched on so long.

“No,” Annabeth answered, nose wrinkling in distaste at just the thought, and said nothing else.

“Sorry,” Dr. Pallas said gently, her voice laden with guilt. “You just seemed very close.”

“We are,” Annabeth agreed, crossing her legs and straightening in her chair. For the first time she allowed herself to look across the table at Dr. Pallas – _her mother_. “I’ve never had much in the way of a biological family. Jason is part of the one I’ve started to build in its place.”

The jab was purposeful, and it seemed to be effective. Dr. Pallas looked away. “Was he the one who helped with your tuition?” Of course Jason’s professors would know his family’s status, and Jason _had_ offered to chip in with helping her pay it, so the assumption was fair enough.

“No,” Annabeth answered again. “My best friend’s father is Tristan McLean. He paid it. I plan on repaying him once I’ve graduated. Eventually.”

“I can repay it for you,” Dr. Pallas said. “If you need more money for expenses, too, I can give it to you.”

Suddenly feeling sick just looking at the liquid, Annabeth set her coffee down. “What you sent should be more than enough to get me through graduation. After that I’ll repay you, too. I admittedly needed the money you sent, and I’m grateful to you for sending it, but I never wanted it.”

“You don’t need to repay me. Sending you that money was the least I could do,” Dr. Pallas replied, her voice calm and even despite the conflict written plainly on her face.

“The least you could have done was call,” Annabeth said, her eyes beginning to sting with the threat of tears. “Not one call in twenty-two years. Not a letter. Nothing. I didn’t even know your name until _Jason_ told me this morning. And the last four years you were here? In the same city, at the very same school, _knowing_ I was here?”

Dr. Pallas set her cup down as well and took a deep breath. “I called Fredrick several times over the years, but he wouldn’t allow me to speak with you. When I left I signed over my parental rights. From the pictures I saw and the stories I heard from mutual acquaintances, I thought you were happy, well cared for. He got married, and then you had siblings, more than I could have given you. I’d heard he was sending you to a school in Connecticut. An old friend of mine taught there. I knew it was a good school, one of the best. Annabeth, I thought–”

“You thought wrong,” Annabeth replied, when Dr. Pallas trailed off. It didn’t matter what exactly had been thought. Those lies had been far from the reality of neglect and bullying Annabeth had endured over the years. Dr. Pallas could spend the rest of time making excuses, but they would still never be enough. While Annabeth had no idea what she wanted or needed from her mother, she knew excuses were not it.

They fell silent again, Annabeth beginning to feel a little guilty for snapping, even just seconds after the anger had flared in her. She knew things must have looked happy, healthy even, from a distance. Her father had always kept up appearances well. That didn’t explain why Dr. Pallas had left in the first place, though, how she could have given up all contact with her daughter. It also didn’t make up for the fact that Annabeth had been left alone to suffer for twenty-two years, no one to protect her.

“I was so proud,” Dr. Pallas started again, her tone soft, “when I found out you’d be coming here.”

Talking about school was easy, a topic that was at once personal and adequately distant. “It was my first choice. Sophomore year of high school Piper and I came in for a tour with some of our classmates and we fell in love with the school and the city.”

“You didn’t want to go to Stanford?” Dr. Pallas asked, a tentative, hopeful curiosity in her expression after Annabeth had offered something up so willingly. “I’d always assumed that was where you would go, because of Fredrick. It’s where I did my undergrad and masters, too.”

“Not really. I only applied to schools on the east coast,” Annabeth answered with a shrug. “I needed to be as far away from San Francisco as possible.”

“Why?”

That question was far too loaded for this conversation, and just another reminder of all the ways the woman who had brought her into the world had failed to protect her, but Annabeth had walked right into it. She blinked herself back to reality and shook her head, realizing as she was launched in yet another extreme direction that this was not a meeting she was equipped to be having, not at that moment, and certainly not alone. “I’m sorry, I need to go,” she said, though she probably could have stayed a while longer and still made it across campus for lunch in plenty of time.

“Can we have a meal sometime?” Dr. Pallas asked, clearly confused by Annabeth’s sudden turn around.

“I don’t know,” Annabeth told her honestly, rushing to pick up her bag and stand, not making eye contact. “I’ll think about it. I know where to find you now.”

If Dr. Pallas said anything else, Annabeth didn’t hear it. In a flash she was out the door and her feet were carrying her along familiar sidewalks toward the on campus cafe she’d frequented all semester with her friends. 

Percy was already there – he was always the first one to arrive, good, strong, dependable. Instantly he realized something was wrong and stood to meet her. Without a word Annabeth threw herself into his waiting arms. She was thankful it was just them on Tuesdays, so he could hold her and she could cling to him. As much as she adored Hazel, Frank and Leo, she wasn’t sure how she would have managed to act normal through lunch after the morning she’d just had. No one would be there to ask her any difficult questions, either.

Well, no one but Percy. Percy’s questions had, at some point along the way, stopped counting.

“What happened?” he asked gently, his face pressed against the top of her head.

Annabeth’s fingers curled into his t-shirt and she took a shaky breath. “I just met my mom,” she answered in a whisper, and that was all it took for him to hold her a little tighter.


	68. Chapter 68

Piper McLean didn’t like being the most together person in a room that included Annabeth Chase and Jason Grace, but that was the situation she found herself in Thursday night. 

Okay, maybe that wasn’t entirely fair to Percy, who was, admittedly, usually pretty together for someone she’d once seen brush his teeth twice in the span of five minutes because he couldn’t remember whether or not he’d done it. He was asleep on the couch with his head in Annabeth’s lap, though, and Piper didn’t count anyone who wasn’t conscious as being in the room. That left her, Annabeth and Jason, and Piper being the only one among them not on the brink of a breakdown.

Since meeting her mother two days before, Annabeth had been on edge, perpetually annoyed and a little short tempered. Thankfully Annabeth had met with Dr. Brunner that very fateful afternoon and managed to work through the worst, most tumultuous of her emotions, not ending up in the autopilot mode that she usually used to cope in more stressful situations. That was progress, at least, something Piper was thankful for. It didn’t change the fact that Annabeth had a lot of very big decisions to make, though, and it didn’t make any of those decisions easier.

It was hard for Piper to hold back her own frustrations over Annabeth’s mother, but she was doing her best not to rant and rave about what a load of shit it was that this professor lady had known Annabeth was at NYU the last four years and never said a word. Annabeth was an adult when they’d moved to New York, turned nineteen that first summer. Fredrick might have kept them apart when Annabeth was young, but there was no explanation for staying away the last four years. Piper hated it because Annabeth deserved _better_.

Jason’s issues were much more difficult to parse. Even a week and a half later he was still struggling to come to terms with his new reality, the future his father had chosen for him. Soon things would begin to change for him. His father would start giving him responsibilities, little ones at first, while Jason was still finishing school, but with more to come. Each sunrise brought with it the possibility that something else in Jason’s life was going to be turned on its head and he would be helpless to fight it.

What Piper hated most, he still seemed _scared_. Every once in a while she’d catch him staring at her, longing and fear making his usually bright eyes an empty void, and know part of him was still afraid she was going to spook and bolt. A sickening and anxious part of her was beginning to worry he might be considering whether he should let her go himself, preemptively. Piper had no idea how she would handle that and she hoped, prayed every time he looked at her so dejectedly, they never came to it.

Worse than either of their individual problems was how powerless Piper felt to help them.

Defeated, Piper was about to announce she was calling it a night when Annabeth finally looked up at Jason from the textbook she’d been taking notes out of. “Did you have her class today?”

It was the first time Annabeth had mentioned her aside from the brief explanation of their conversation she’d given Tuesday night. Jason flashed Piper a concerned and curious look. “Yeah. Her class is Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

“She asked if you were my boyfriend,” Annabeth said softly, the corners of her mouth twitching upward, her fingers brushing through Percy’s hair as he continued to snooze in her lap.

To Piper’s surprise, Jason laughed. Jason’s laugh made Piper laugh. Both of them together broke whatever dam was holding Annabeth back and then she was laughing too. They didn’t even need to say how absurd the idea was, it was so unanimously felt.

“What’s so funny?” Percy asked, groggy. The sound and Annabeth’s amused shaking must have been enough to stir him.

Annabeth reached down and brushed drool from the corner of his mouth with her thumb, something Piper thought was absolutely disgusting, still chuckling. “Jason being my boyfriend.”

Percy joined in with a sleepy chuckle of his own.

“I don’t even know why it’s so funny, but it is,” Piper said, looking between Jason and Annabeth and having to laugh again. The two of them were so similar, even down to their blonde hair and light eyes that often reminded Piper of the sky, though in very different ways. Too similar, she decided. There would be nothing to balance each other out. They were a great team and made wonderful friends, but anything more and they would either bore each other to death or drive each other insane.

“It’s not even that it’s funny, it’s just gross,” Annabeth said, wrinkling her nose and shaking her head. “No offense, Jason.”

“None taken,” Jason assured her, his smile growing. Piper didn’t think she’d ever been so happy to see that smile, as if in some small way this moment full of warmth and laughter and teasing was healing him. It gave her hope that maybe he could find a way out of his own misery, even if it took a thousand quiet nights together in that apartment.

Rolling onto his side so he could look at Jason and Piper, Percy grinned. “Which is weirder – Annabeth and Jason or Piper and me?”

“Definitely us,” Piper said without hesitation, and the chorus of laughter from Annabeth and Jason told her they agreed wholeheartedly.

“Wow, you didn’t even think about it,” Percy complained, covering his chest with one hand as he pretended to be hurt by her decisive answer.

“One of you would definitely end up dead,” Annabeth offered through her laughter.

Jason amended, “Both of them, and probably a lot of other people along the way.”

“I did once tell Annabeth I would help Piper burn the world down for her, so you’re probably right,” Percy admitted, easily dropping his hurt act, even as Annabeth gave his shoulder a playful shove.

“Before we even had our first date,” Annabeth added, for Piper and Jason’s benefit, her voice so full of adoration it could have very well taken physical form right there in the middle of the living room, “because you’re insane and your brain is made of seaweed.”

“Absolutely insane,” Jason agreed, his grin pointed at Piper and his eyes dancing with mirth, like he was imagining just how capable she was of burning the world down. Her chest felt warm from the love that flowed across the room to her from Jason, pure and fulfilling, none of the pain or fear he’d been struggling with able to penetrate it. Even still, after three months, nearing the longest relationship Piper had ever had, and plenty of bumps along the way, Jason Grace was perfect to her, for her.

Percy flopped onto his back to gaze up at Annabeth again, but when he spoke it was clearly directed at Jason. “Yeah, well, I’d do it for you, too, Grace, so eat shit.”

The smile Jason wore wavered, Percy’s words seeming to catch him off guard. Piper watched Jason carefully as a series of emotions played across his face – surprise, confusion, a hint of happiness, and then a wave of what Piper could only describe as humility. When Jason looked back at Piper she gave him a small smile and a nod, trying to convey how true she knew those words were, despite the playful bite Percy had tagged onto the end.

_Jason needs good people around him._

She swore to herself that no matter what happened, even if their relationship crashed and burned, Piper would make sure Jason kept these two good people beside him. Annabeth and Percy were possibly the best people Piper had ever known, made impossibly better by being together. They weren’t just hers, though. Now they were Jason’s, too.

“What did you tell her?” Jason asked, looking at Annabeth, still immensely humbled by what Percy had just confessed and clearly trying to change the subject before he got too emotional. “Dr. Pallas, I mean, when she asked if I was your boyfriend.”

Annabeth looked at him, studying the unusual expression he wore. She was back to playing with Percy’s hair, his long, wavy strands twirling between her fingers in a way that seemed equally soothing to both of them. “I told her you were family,” she finally answered with a shrug. “The family I choose.”

Again Jason seemed overcome, ducking his head as his cheeks began to turn Piper’s favorite rosy shade. The night was turning into a surprise Jason love fest and he was not prepared for it. She wondered if Jason himself had realized how much he’d come to mean to the other two, even though she knew full well they meant that much to him without him needing to say it. In the grand scheme of things, most of the relationships in that room were still new, but they had been tested already and Piper had no doubts they would hold up when tested again.

“If she gives you a bad time or anything, let me know,” Annabeth added, when Jason didn’t reply.

“I’m sure she won’t,” Jason told her, still looking sheepish.

Comfortable silence fell between them as Jason and Annabeth went back to their reading, Piper went back to her thinking, and Percy closed his eyes again. It was a moment Piper wished she could freeze, put in a frame and keep forever, even as conflicted as she was about all Annabeth and Jason were going through. Graduation was just around the corner and the flurry of finals would undoubtedly unsettle them even sooner. Nights like these, good and bad, were a limited commodity. Sure, she could take a picture, but a picture couldn’t capture the way it felt just to be with the three of them, momentarily safe from whatever life had in store.

After several minutes, Percy opened his eyes again and looked over at her, then to Jason. “Will you two come to Rome for the games if I make the team?” he asked, his voice quiet, surprisingly hesitant.

What would happen in late July if Percy made the Olympic team hadn’t yet been discussed. Piper knew Annabeth was already planning on going, that much was a given. Obviously she wanted to go, too, but she knew better than to invite herself. Some people liked having a crowd of friends and family to cheer them on while they competed, gained confidence and energy from the support. Others found it put too much added pressure on them. While she was no athlete, Piper understood both perspectives.

The weekend before Percy had attended the championships for NYU’s division. He’d insisted no one go with him – not Annabeth, not Hazel and Leo, not even his parents. Percy had, as expected, obliterated the competition in his few events, but the NYU team had finished poorly overall, also as expected. That meet was a relatively big one for college swimming, but minuscule in comparison to the national and international competitions Percy would be heading to over the summer. Piper hadn’t been sure if Percy’s preferences would change for those more important events.

“Rome sounds fun,” Jason replied, another smile pulling at his lips. 

“I would _never_ pass up an opportunity to go back to Rome,” Piper answered in agreement. “If we’re flying all the way out there you better win at least one gold medal, though.”

“Piper!” Annabeth instantly chided.

Percy, though, was smiling. “If I don’t, you can just leave me there. I’ll be too ashamed to come back.”

“Is your family planning on making the trip, too?” Piper asked, glad that Percy didn’t seem bothered by her teasing. From the way Annabeth had spoken of his mom and sister, Piper was looking forward to the chance to meet them, but was also curious if Hazel and Leo would be tagging along. She was quickly growing fond of those two and liked the idea of a big group adventure in a city as ancient and fascinating as Rome.

“That’s the plan,” Percy confirmed with a nod. “Estelle on that eight plus hour flight, though? I feel bad for everyone on that plane.”

Annabeth pinched Percy’s side, making him wince and let out a complaining whine. “You make her sound like a demon or something. She’s not that bad.”

“It’s good you think so, because I’ll be flying with the team. You’ll be the one stuck with her,” he said, but the smile on his face told Piper he was glad Annabeth already seemed so attached to his little sister.

“We can take my family jet,” Jason offered with a surprising amount of ease.

So, yes, Piper’s dad _also_ had a private plane. She herself never used it because she found it unnecessary and wasteful for just one or two passengers at a time to use an aircraft, especially across country. It made sense for Tristan McLean, who had often, over the years, juggled security concerns from stalkers, tight schedules, and even death threats. Flying commercial had been sufficient for Piper, though. She could enjoy some over the top opulence from time to time, and always flew first class just for the sake of wasting a little more of her dad’s money, but private flights pushed it even for her.

While Percy would fly there with the team, he would probably fly back with the family, which meant at least nine people to transport – add in the likelihood of Frank wanting to tag along and the potential created by whatever was going on between Leo and Cal, and the number would only grow. That was too many people for Piper’s dad’s plane, not to mention his plane had a max flight time of just a few hours before it needed refueling. They’d have to make at least two stops to get to Rome, with a plane filled to capacity. At that point flying commercial would just be less of a hassle, and probably more comfortable.

All that meant Jason’s family jet was probably significantly larger than the one Tristan McLean owned, because of course it was.

“Dude,” Percy said, his face pinched as he tilted his head to look at Jason, “you had a _family jet_ and we didn’t take it to Malibu?”

“Four of us taking it to Malibu would be overkill,” Jason replied lightly, and Piper loved him for sharing her exact thought from a few seconds before.

With a heavy sigh and a pout on his lips, Percy crossed his arms and returned his gaze to Annabeth. “I can’t believe I’m going to be crammed into a seat next to a bunch of broad shouldered guys for eight hours while all of you get to fly on a private jet.”

“Now you have motivation to win – flying back with us,” Piper teased lightly.

“Finally, a worthy reason to win,” Percy replied. “I definitely didn’t have any of those before.”

Annabeth hummed, running her fingers through Percy’s hair a few times. “Let’s get you to bed, then. You need your energy to train now that you actually have to win.”

“I don’t wanna,” he said, as if he hadn’t just been passed out on the couch, he was so tired. A second later he was very obviously trying to stifle a yawn, driving home Annabeth’s point even further. Piper had never known a grown adult so obstinate about going to bed, especially one who was always so _tired_ , but almost every night he and Annabeth had this very debate in one form or another.

“Then I’ll just go without you,” Annabeth told him with a shrug. Just like that she was slipping out from under him, Percy’s head falling to the couch cushion without her lap to rest on.

Percy groaned, watching his girlfriend with the grumpy expression of a kid who’s convinced they’re being tricked into something. Slowly he rose to his feet and stretched, clearly deciding going to bed with Annabeth was a much better option than staying on the couch without her. Smart guy. “’Night you two,” he said with a nod to Piper and Jason.

“Love you,” Piper said to both of them.

Annabeth gave her a small smile as she held a waiting hand out to Percy. “Love you, too,” she replied, and Piper knew it was for both her and Jason, as well.

Once they were alone in the living room, Piper got up from her seat and crossed to where Jason was sitting, perching herself on the arm of his chair. He’d started deflating a little whenever it was just the two of them, like he was putting on a show for everyone else, trying to appear stronger than he actually was, even when those other people were just Percy and Annabeth. It did make her feel the tiniest bit better to know he didn’t feel the need to act in front of her.

“Do you want to head to bed too? You look exhausted,” she said softly, reaching up to brush her thumb under his eyes. The bags there had become an almost permanent fixture. He didn’t sleep as much, or as well, as he used to. Piper had woken up in the middle of the night a couple times that week to discover him laying in bed, staring at the ceiling. Both times he’d brushed off her concerns, kissed her once and told her to go back to sleep. Once or twice she could understand, but the sleepless nights were already catching up to him.

Jason shook his head. “I’m behind on this reading. I should get it finished.”

“You’ve been having a lot of trouble focusing this week,” she observed, trying to keep any hint of accusation out of her voice. Piper didn’t blame him, she was just worried.

“Most of this doesn’t matter anymore anyway,” he replied with a wave to his textbooks, his voice turning hard, frustration bubbling up. “The economics might come in handy occasionally, but my political science degree will basically be trash now. I should have been studying business and management, finance, maybe even media. Four years, basically wasted.”

There were a lot of things he left unspoken, but Piper heard them all the same. He hadn’t even chosen his majors for himself to begin with, and he’d found them casually interesting at best. Now they were leaving him feeling unprepared for the road ahead – and maybe if he’d been free to make the choice himself he _would_ have chosen those subjects that could have better prepared him. His father had him on a string and pulled Jason wherever he pleased, without a single regard for what Jason wanted or needed.

Piper cupped his face in her hand, gently guiding him to look up at her. Earlier she had felt powerless to help him, now she resolved herself to do anything she could to make his burden even the tiniest bit lighter. Words were all she had, but she did her best to turn them into something tangible he could take hold of. “You don’t think it was much, but your offer of the plane probably took a lot of pressure off Percy’s shoulders. He doesn’t have to worry about how everyone he loves is going to manage that trip just to see him now, because you took care of it with just a few words. I know it’s not what you want, and I know it’s going to be hard, but I also know you. You’re going to find a way to help people, Jason, the people you love for starters, but other people, too. That’s going to mean something. 

“What you’ve learned over the last four years might not be as helpful as it could or should have been, but I know you’ll find a way to put it to use,” she continued, making sure to hold his gaze. “I have faith in you and I can’t wait to see all the great things you’re going to manage to accomplish. This world is going to be a better place someday because of you.”

His eyes shone with desperation, wanting nothing more than to believe her, to believe in himself as much as she did. Hopelessness had hold of him, though, and Piper feared its grip was too strong.


	69. Chapter 69

It had been Dr. Brunner’s idea. At the time Annabeth had agreed it was a good one. Somehow all his ideas sounded like good ideas when they were coming out of his mouth, but when Annabeth found herself putting them into practice they often felt outright crazy. So much of her heart was still a jumble, pulled in different directions by countless conflicting emotions. In both her sessions with Dr. Brunner since meeting her mother for the first time, Annabeth had come to the same conclusion. She _had_ to see the woman at least one more time.

That was how Annabeth ended up in a very uncomfortable position the night of the first Saturday in April, sitting at a table in a restaurant next to Percy, waiting for her mother and her mother’s wife to join them.

To keep her nerves from getting completely out of control, Annabeth was focusing her attention on Percy as much as she could. It wasn’t particularly hard. She was relishing the way the blazer and button up he wore fit him. That blazer was a new one. Percy had gone out to buy it special just for that dinner, to make a good impression on Annabeth’s mother, something she found adorable even if she herself gave not a single fuck about impressing the woman. He’d also made the effort to style his hair. Annabeth definitely preferred his usual unkempt look, but on these rare occasions she did enjoy the way he cleaned up – and imagining all the ways she’d ruffle him back up once they got home.

“You’ve got that look in your eye,” he said lightly, a grin on his lips.

“What look?” she asked, averting her eyes all the same – she’d definitely been caught.

Percy leaned in to whisper the words directly against her ear. “The one that says I’m a piece of meat you can’t wait to sink your teeth into.”

“I really have no idea what you’re talking about,” Annabeth replied with a shrug. Once upon a time she might have been embarrassed by the accusation, true or not, but no longer. She liked that he knew how irresistible she found him, and that he could tell with a look when she wanted him, even if the moment wouldn’t allow it.

“Liar,” he teased, tilting his head to plant a kiss on her cheek.

Part of her wished they could turn the dinner into a simple date, just the two of them. They rarely had the time and Percy rarely had the energy to go out together. She didn’t mind it, of course, because even sitting around doing nothing with him, and their friends, was more than enough for her. Still, there was something exciting about being _out_. Once they graduated, once he’d made it through Olympic Trials and then games themselves, and he didn’t have to spend hours a day in class and on homework along with his training, she would have to make actual dates a priority.

They weren’t out just the two of them, though, a fact she was unfortunately reminded of when she saw her mother and another woman walk in the door. Though Percy hadn’t seen her before, he must have realized who they were from Annabeth’s reaction. His hand immediately reached for Annabeth’s and gave it a light squeeze of support while he smiled in their guests’ direction. She really, truly did love him.

Annabeth tried to smile too, though it was much more reserved and much less natural than Percy’s wide grin, as she raised her hand to signal them. Dr. Pallas – no, Annabeth was making an active effort to call her by her first name, less formal, _Athena_ – gave a tentative smile in return and placed her hand on her wife’s back to lead them over. Then they were there at the table and the four of them were exchanging awkward hellos.

“This is my wife, Victoria,” Athena said, as the woman beside her held out her hand.

“It’s wonderful to meet you, Annabeth,” Victoria said as Annabeth shook her hand. The woman was beautiful, with striking eyes and a head of long, dark brown hair tied back in a tight ponytail. Her handshake was firm and quick, and she offered her hand to Percy right after.

That was Annabeth’s cue. “This is Percy Jackson,” she told them, as he politely shook Victoria’s hand and then held it out to Athena. “My _actual_ boyfriend,” she added, tentatively, not sure if her teasing undertones would be recognized or appreciated.

“To be fair, I’d be excited about my kid bringing home a guy like Jason, too,” Percy said lightly.

Athena clearly didn’t know what to make of that – of him – as she reached out to shake his hand, her eyes studying Percy with an intensity that was all too familiar to Annabeth. She’d seen that expression in the mirror countless times. “How long have you two been dating?” Athena asked, settling into her chair.

“It’ll be two full months this coming Thursday, about three since we met,” Annabeth replied, trying to contain her smile at the thought. Two months seemed like such a short time compared to the sheer amount of crap they’d experienced together, but was a huge milestone for her all the same.

The conversation was interrupted by a waitress arriving to take their orders. Very awkwardly, Athena insisted they get whatever they wanted, that dinner was on her and Victoria, and soon they had all made their decisions and food was well on its way. Silence fell over them in the wake of their waitress’s exit, Annabeth hardly able to look across the table at where her mother was seated.

Even thinking that word still felt surreal. _Mother._

Percy, his foot tapping anxiously under the table, was the one who finally broke the silence. “So, how long have you been married?”

“Almost five years,” Athena answered, flashing her wife a smile.

Annabeth tried not to think about her own almost-five-years ago, but those thoughts seeped in anyway. While she had been going through the worst summer of her life, her mother was getting happily married, completely oblivious to the nightmare Annabeth’s life was becoming. Great. She reached for Percy’s hand again, glad for the strength and familiarity he provided, anchoring her back to the present. Having him come along on this dinner was the right call.

Blaming Athena for her absence in that time wasn’t completely fair. Fredrick had kept them apart, Annabeth knew that. Athena was there now, trying, even if it did feel like too little too late. What may or may not have been different in her past was irrelevant, because no amount of blame could change what had happened. Annabeth was happy with her present, very happy, and the future looked like it was going to be wonderful. Those things mattered most.

“How did you two meet?” Victoria asked, seeming to sense some kind of tension building.

“Can I tell it?” Percy asked, glancing at Annabeth, his face alight with excitement at the prospect. Knowing him, it would be a ridiculous and exaggerated version of events, but she couldn’t resist his boyish grin.

With an affectionate roll of her eyes, Annabeth said, “Sure.”

Full of gusto, Percy started his story with their shared class as sophomores, going into great detail about how he was absolutely transfixed from the moment he set eyes on her and leaving Annabeth with her cheeks pleasantly warm. He continued to their chance encounter with the pizza, being very kind when it came to describing how Annabeth had acted that night, pointing out how he’d felt like an absolute fool himself for letting her go then without at least getting her name – something he’d never actually said to Annabeth herself. Knowing Athena was a professor at their school, he carefully evaded bringing up his status as TA in her swim class, simply saying they ran into each other in another class that semester, then focused more on the subsequent encounters when he, as he claimed, had more or less thrown himself at her.

“I still can’t believe she’s mine now,” Percy concluded, smiling over at Annabeth and giving her hand another squeeze. It still gave her an annoyingly giddy every time he claimed her with such pride. She’d always thought that particular turn of phrase was archaic or territorial, but she understood it now – she was his because she gave herself, her love, to him freely and gladly, and he gave the same back to her. It was a willing exchange, a choice they made each morning when they woke up, reaffirmed countless times over the course of every day. “Annabeth is the most amazing person I’ve ever known.”

“Hardly,” Annabeth replied with another roll of her eyes, but the warmth in her face and the smile she wore betrayed how pleased she was with both his praise and the way he’d told their story. It was a little ridiculous and exaggerated, and all too self-deprecating on his part, but she loved it just the same. Their story was a good one and she hoped they’d be battling to tell their differing versions of events for a long time to come.

“What’s your major, Percy?” Athena asked, and though the question sounded casual enough, Annabeth noted storminess in her mother’s gray eyes.

Stormy gray eyes had never scared Percy, though, so he answered without hesitation. “Psychology.”

“Impressive,” Athena admitted, but her gaze continued to intensify. “And you’re an undergraduate as well?”

“I am,” Percy confirmed.

Eyes narrowed, she asked, “What class was it you ran into each other in this semester?”

Annabeth hesitated to answer, risking a worried glance in Percy’s direction. There were, of course, plenty of people who knew about both their relationship and the fact that Annabeth was enrolled in his class, Coach Hedge included. Percy had informed Coach about his feelings for Annabeth as soon as he’d declared his intentions to her – Annabeth had only discovered later that this was because Percy had offered to give up his position teaching if it was creating a situation that would be too inappropriate. Coach had said something along the lines of, “I really don’t give a fuck, Jackson. You just tell them when to get in and out of the pool.” They also figured most of the class was aware of their relationship (especially since Annabeth herself along with Frank, Leo and Hazel made up almost half of it), but it seemed like no one really cared. Still, it was technically against university policy for a TA to be involved with a student in their class.

And, yes, Annabeth did find that a little thrilling. Sexy, even. She was self aware enough to admit it.

Whether because he was reckless or because he just didn’t realize how easily it could come back to him (Annabeth would bet on reckless, honestly, he wasn’t stupid), Percy decided to answer confidently. “It’s an intermediate swimming class. I’m on the swim team, so I handle lessons for Coach Hedge.”

“You teach her class,” Athena replied, the disapproval not even thinly veiled.

Like she had with her father months before, Annabeth was quick to interject, “The class is pass or fail, based only on attendance.” Her voice had a slight edge to it, a hint of anger threatening to rear its ugly head. She was tired of absentee parents (voluntarily absentee or not) passing judgment on her relationship with Percy when it was one of the best and healthiest relationships in her life – she wouldn’t even be there, at that dinner, had he not been the one to convince her to begin seeing Dr. Brunner.

“Athena,” Victoria said softly, placing a hand on her wife’s arm. “It sounds like there’s nothing inappropriate happening. I doubt the administration would look twice, even if a complaint was filed.”

There was a definite double meaning there, even if _Athena_ filed a complaint, which made Annabeth want to change the subject as quickly as possible. “Do you teach at NYU too, Victoria?” she asked, clinging to Percy’s hand under the table and trying to sound calm.

“I do,” Victoria answered, though her eyes lingered on her wife for a few more seconds. “I’m in the history department, with a focus on military history.”

“I actually minored in historical architecture,” Annabeth replied, relieved for the safety of the topic. Her mother’s face was still pinched with disapproval, her eyes always flickering back to Percy to glare between glances at Annabeth and Victoria. If Percy noticed it, he didn’t let her blatant disdain bother him, remaining casually interested in the conversation.

“That’s the _art_ history department, not us,” Victoria told her, managing to keep her tone light, almost playful. “We have a bit of a rivalry with them.”

The two of them fell into a comfortable enough discussion about the various differences between plain _history_ and the much more specific _art history_ , which developed into discussing architecture’s natural connection to the arts and how Annabeth had often struggled with that more creative aspect of the study. Percy teased Annabeth lightly through the second part of the conversation whenever an especially smart quip came to him, which only served to make Annabeth that much more at ease. Their food and drinks were delivered to the table in the midst of it all, at which point Athena focused almost solely on her food, allowing the other three to carry the conversation.

“You’re graduating in May, correct?” Victoria asked, toward the end of their meal. They were all mostly done eating, though Annabeth’s appetite had been limited and she’d only eaten about half her salmon. It had gone fairly well, at least better than Annabeth had expected, even if Athena seemed to detest Percy and Annabeth had definitely felt more of a connection to Victoria than her mother.

“I am,” she confirmed. “Percy, too.”

“Then you’re the same age,” Victoria observed, with a pointed look at her wife. 

“Actually,” Annabeth replied, unable to keep herself from grinning, “I’m older.”

“A _month_ older,” Percy objected.

“A month and _six days_ ,” she reminded him smugly. 

They’d had this debate several times. It started because they, Jason, Piper _and_ Leo all had birthdays in July and August – Jason’s coming first and Percy’s being last, making him the youngest of the graduating group. Annabeth would never let Percy live it down, even if the gap between him and Piper was a whopping four days. Needless to say, they were all looking forward to their string of birthdays over the summer.

Usually when they got to that point in their debate, Percy would grumble and kiss her to shut her up, but, considering their company, that option was clearly off the table. Annabeth noted the way his tongue brushed his bottom lip and his eyes trained themselves to her mouth all the same. It was very satisfying to see him struggle to restrain himself and she rolled her bottom lip between her teeth both to smother a smile and just to tease him a little more.

After a few more shallow questions, Victoria set her napkin on the table. “It really was wonderful to meet you both tonight.”

“It was great, yeah,” Percy agreed and Annabeth nodded, though her eyes had turned to her mother.

Athena looked to her wife and spoke for the first time since all of two words she’d said during their meal. “Would you mind getting the car, darling? I’d like to talk a little with Annabeth. Alone.”

Percy turned his attention to Annabeth then, asking with his eyes if _she_ was okay with that request or if he should stay. Annabeth nodded, not entirely sure she was alright, but figuring there was no helping it. “I’ll go get Bessie, then,” he said with an almost imperceptible sigh and leaned in to give Annabeth another kiss on the cheek.

When both their significant others had left, Athena raised her eyebrows. “Bessie?”

“His car,” Annabeth answered, unable to keep the amusement from her voice. It would never not be a stupid name to her, no matter how much time passed, and even if she always found herself referring to the car by its name. Maybe Percy had been right and it _was_ just a Bessie. That was something she would never admit aloud, though.

“Charming,” Athena replied, though she didn’t sound charmed at all, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Bristling, Annabeth sat a little taller in his seat. “It is, actually, very charming.”

“Your TA, Annabeth, really?” Athena asked, cutting straight to the point. 

It was unsettling how much Athena sounded like Fredrick as she said those words, something Annabeth definitely didn’t like. The last thing she needed or wanted was another parent like Fredrick Chase. Annabeth was an adult, still young, but she’d been on her own for a long time, forced to grow up entirely too soon. A large part of the reason Annabeth had needed to grow up so soon was because Athena hadn’t been there. She wanted to cut Athena a little slack in that regard, but that didn’t mean Athena got to walk into her life after twenty-two years and try to act like a parent with any degree of authority over her.

“Are you going to report him?” Annabeth asked in return, not to be outdone when it came to being direct.

With a frustrated sigh, Athena replied, “No, but that doesn’t mean I approve.”

“I didn’t bring him here to get your approval,” Annabeth said, not letting herself be shaken. She knew Percy had been hopeful about earning that approval, and Annabeth thought he was more than deserving of it, but the only person whose opinion of Percy had ever mattered, or would ever matter, was Piper’s. “I brought him because I needed his support. This isn’t easy for me, but I wanted to try.”

For a minute Athena was silent, struggling with what to say. Finally she settled on, “This isn’t easy for me, either.”

“We don’t have to do it again,” Annabeth said, folding her napkin back up the way it had been at the start of their meal, just for something to do with her hands.

“I’d like to, though,” Athena replied, still very clearly having difficulty with her words. Annabeth wondered if that was how she often looked to people, and how she could be so much like someone she’d never met before. The thought chipped a little of her bitterness away. “Maybe we could have you over to our house. Both of you, if that’s what would be more comfortable,” Athena added, softer, hopeful.

“I’ll have to think about it,” Annabeth answered, though she had a feeling she would settle on a yes – if not on her own, definitely on Tuesday when she discussed it with Dr. Brunner. She could practically hear his gentle prodding, reminding her that she’d said in one of their earliest sessions how much she’d wished for a relationship with her mother when she was younger.

Nothing about this situation was going to be easy. Annabeth had a lot of pain and anger. They were strangers and bound to ruffle each other’s feathers, and clearly already had. It could be worth it, though. A few years down the line, Annabeth might be thankful to herself for taking this risk, putting in the work to build a relationship with the woman who had brought her into the world. She’d regret not at least trying, even if in the end it didn’t work out.

Athena nodded. “Let me know when you decide.”

Tense and stiff, they walked out of the restaurant together. Percy and Victoria were both parked out front, waiting in their respective cars, and Annabeth said a very formal goodbye to her mother, struggling even to look the woman in the eye. The dinner was over, thank God. Annabeth had survived it, and she at least didn’t feel any worse than she had going into it.

Slipping into the familiar passenger seat of Percy’s car was a massive relief and instantly she let out a heavy sigh she felt like she’d been holding in the whole evening.

“It didn’t go _terribly_ ,” Percy offered, wearing a tentative and lopsided smile, “even if she didn’t like me much. Or at all. Actually, I think she kind of hated me.”

Annabeth looked at him, sitting there behind the wheel of his car, still looking so carefully groomed, and it was all she could take. The blend of defensiveness she’d felt and her constant, overwhelming adoration of him came to a head and just like that she needed him. He seemed to know exactly what was on her mind, because he met her halfway, catching her lips with his as her hands instantly slipped into his hair to begin returning it to its natural state. 

Kissing him made the rest of the world fade into the background, distant and unreal in comparison to the heavenly feel of his lips. They paid no heed to the fact that were sitting in a no parking zone, melting into each other in a way that was at once habitual and still invigorating. Annabeth wanted to keep kissing him there forever, in the car that was so precious to him, that he had turned into a symbol of his love for her, with the taste of steak and red wine sauce on his tongue. Unfortunately that was not possible, a point made clear by the person who began honking behind them.

“Let’s get you home,” he said, when they finally managed to pry themselves apart, his voice gruff and heavy in his breathlessness, making her heart race and an ache begin to take root between her thighs.

“Your place is closer,” she pointed out, not even remotely ashamed of how desperate she sounded.

He kissed her again, quick but hard from his mutual desperation, then pulled away to get them on the road. His smile had returned in full force, the dangerously sexy one that had been irresistible to her from the first time he flashed it at her. “You really are the smartest person I’ve ever known.”


	70. Chapter 70

“ _This_ is how you deal with being part of the Grace family?” Piper asked, an eyebrow raised, as she glanced at Reyna next to her.

Reyna wore a slight smile, her arms crossed, and shrugged. “I like to hit things when I’m mad, and I’m mad a lot.”

On top of schoolwork, Jason had that week been tasked by his father to start preparing for the job assignment he was going to be given after graduation, which meant going through personnel files, business reports and all other kinds of nonsense. Piper had decided to give him some time alone to focus Sunday afternoon, free of the distraction of entertaining her, or just the simple distraction of her. She also hated watching him struggle, felt like she was going crazy thinking it was his own father putting him through so much, and had admittedly needed to get out for her own sanity.

Reyna, having been able to tell Piper was stressed about the situation, had made an offer to show Piper how she dealt with her own stress. It had sounded like a great idea – Piper would have the opportunity both to get out of the apartment and expel some of her nervous energy. What Piper had not expected was Reyna bringing her to a boxing club.

“I brought you clothes to change into, don’t worry,” Reyna added, patting the dufflebag slung over her shoulder, and then started off toward the locker rooms. Clothes were the furthest thing from Piper’s mind, but it was nice to know all the same.

The stench of sweat hung in the air, about a dozen other people scattered across the small facility doing various kinds of training. Dual colored brick walls were covered in championship belts, framed photographs and posters promoting fights or tournaments. Scattered around the two rings in the center were punching bags hanging from the ceiling, treadmills and other exercise equipment, and, for some reason, several giant tires. The place seemed positively common, which Piper actually kind of appreciated. As they were noticed walking toward the back of the open space, a few people said hellos or gave waves of recognition. Clearly Reyna spent a fair amount of time there.

Once they had changed – Reyna offering up a pair of yoga pants, a sports bra and a very loose tank top to Piper – they made their way back out and Reyna led them right up to a young man who seemed to have been waiting for them. He looked to be in his late twenties, with the big, muscled frame that would suit a boxer, curly black hair and bright blue eyes that were just slightly off kilter, giving him the appearance he was always leaning his head to one side. 

“Piper, meet Dakota Grace,” Reyna said giving Dakota a fist bump in greeting. “Dakota, this is Piper McLean.”

“Grace?” Piper asked, looking between the two of them as she, too, bumped fists with Dakota.

“That’s correct,” Dakota replied, a lazy grin spread across his face as he appraised Piper. “Uncle Jace has good taste, definitely better than Auntie Thals.”

Another nephew. She knew Jason had a herd of nieces and nephews, ranging from at least a decade older than him to a couple actual babies, but Piper tried not to think too much about it. The one time she’d tried to wrap her mind around the extent of Jason’s relations, she’d felt like her brain was melting. The Grace family was big. That was all she needed to know.

“You’re lucky Thalia isn’t here to kill you for calling her _auntie_ ,” Reyna replied with amusement in her voice. Apparently his dig didn’t bother her at all, which gave Piper the impression it was something that happened often. “Piper’s here to hit you in Thalia’s place, though.”

“Have you ever done this before?” Dakota asked Piper, once again giving her a scan. It didn’t feel uncomfortable, like he was checking her out or anything along those lines. Dakota was a professional trainer. Bodies were his business.

“Not once,” she answered, and he laughed, a booming sound that filled the gym.

Dakota didn’t seem too surprised. After a few more casual exchanges, Reyna spotted her apparent trainer and gave Dakota a playful (though actually quite hard, not that he budged from it) punch to the shoulder in goodbye. He just continued to grin in her wake.

Even when he went into training mode Dakota remained fairly easy going, but he was still a good teacher. Before anything else, Dakota had Piper do a warm up run on a treadmill. After that, he brought her to one of the punching bags, got her covered in the proper protective equipment and then began instructing her on stances and how to hold her fists to punch effectively without hurting herself. It was hard to keep the smile off her face as she flashed back to January when she’d watched in horror as Reyna’s fist connected with Percy’s nose. Percy was probably lucky Reyna hadn’t done more damage.

That having turned into an oddly fond memory was a pleasant surprise.

Connecting her fist with the punching bag did, admittedly, feel really fucking good. Dakota held it in place for her so every punch landed, shouting instructions and encouragement. Piper lost herself in the movement, her thoughts pouring out of her with every swing, until all she felt was the burning of her muscles and the strain of her lungs trying to keep up as her heart rate continued to rise. Inside the gym was warm, borderline stuffy, and soon her body was covered in a layer of sweat, drops beaded on her forehead, wetting her hair.

She imagined that bag was every problem she’d faced, not just since January, but her entire life. It was the loss of her mother, the neglect of her father. It was all that time she was so desperate to help Annabeth with her pain, knowing _something_ was wrong but not what or how to fix it. It was everyone who had played a hand in that pain Annabeth suffered. It was her emptiness over her own father’s marriage. It was her helplessness against all Jason was facing.

When Dakota finally called her off, Piper was panting and her mind was clear for the first time in almost three weeks, maybe longer. He passed her a bottle of water and she guzzled it down. Even room temperature, it tasted like nectar of the gods, and she felt like she had earned it.

“You’ve got good instincts,” Dakota told her, giving her a nod of approval, leaning into the punching bag. “And you’re stronger than you look. With training, you’d be a decent fighter.”

Piper laughed, then took another long drink of water. “Thanks, I think?”

“You’re very welcome,” he replied, grinning, then he pointed toward one of the rings. “Reyna’s only just getting started, though. You’re probably going to be in for a wait.”

A look at her phone told Piper she’d been at the punching bag for a good forty-five minutes, which was startling. It certainly hadn’t felt like that long, though the way her body was already crying out from the exertion made it much more believable. She said goodbye to Dakota, who had another client about to come in and needed to go, then found a metal folding chair near the ring and collapsed in it to watch Reyna.

It was clear Reyna had been doing this for years. She stood in the ring across from another woman about her size. They circled each other, fists raised, taking careful swings. Each woman bobbed and weaved effortlessly, dodging strikes as if it were nothing, completely natural. Punches were landed, but they were sparring, not trying to do damage. The way they fought was like a dance, careful and calculated, both of them light on their feet, and Piper found she couldn’t take her eyes off them – and even staring, watching from the outside, she often couldn’t anticipate swings and punches the way the two in the ring seemed able to. 

Dakota had been right, too, they had only just started when Piper took her seat. Another half hour passed before their fists finally dropped and they pulled off the padding covering their faces, both of their breathing labored, but smiling at each other all the same. Once their gloves were off they clapped their hands together in a shake and said a few words to each other that Piper couldn’t hear from where she was sitting. Reyna climbed expertly from the ring and landed in front of Piper with a thump, looking disheveled and tired but absolutely happy.

“How was it?” Reyna asked, brushing a few fly aways out of her own face. Her long hair was tied into a ponytail that hung down her back, swaying with each step.

Piper nodded, not yet rising from her seat. “It felt good, I have to admit. I’ll probably be sore tomorrow, though.”

“That’ll feel good, too,” Reyna assured her, only just beginning to really catch her breath.

“I really doubt that,” Piper replied with a laugh. It didn’t even feel good then. “Is this where Jason and Frank train, too?”

The thought seemed to be hilarious, because Reyna burst into laughter. “No. Those babies use the fancy, exclusive gym in our building to run on state of the art treadmills and lift weights. They wouldn’t know what to do with themselves here.” 

“That sounds a little more my speed, too,” Piper said, though looking around she wasn’t entirely sure that was true. Preferring a clean cut, upscale place might have been what she’d expect of herself, and what people who didn’t know her well would expect of her, but for some reason she felt comfortable right where she was. Hitting that punching bag had felt much better than any run she’d ever taken. She could imagine herself coming back, becoming as familiar with the other faces around her as Reyna was.

Reyna also didn’t buy it. “Bullshit. I watched you get started, you were right at home.”

“Maybe,” Piper conceded, though her smile betrayed the fact that Reyna was right on the mark. 

Piper let Reyna help her back to her feet and the two of them returned to the locker room to get cleaned up and changed. Some of the relief Piper’s session had offered her was already beginning to wear off, and as the minutes ticked by her anxiety only returned more intensely. She was picturing going back to the apartment and finding Jason pouring over either text books or files, exhausted and depressed, and her heart constricted at just the image in her mind’s eye. The real thing would, of course, be that much worse.

“What are you hungry for?” Reyna asked, snapping Piper out of her thoughts. When Piper only stared back in confusion, Reyna added, “A little over an hour out of the house isn’t enough to recharge. We worked up a sweat, now we eat, and after that we figure something else out if you’re still feeling anxious about going back.”

A grateful smile pulled at Piper’s lips. “Burgers, then.”

Since Piper was a vegetarian and Reyna was not, it was Piper’s job to decide on a restaurant. Thankfully there was one nearby she frequented that served both regular and veggie burgers and did it well. Annabeth had never minded eating vegetarian and vegan for Piper’s sake, but other friends and acquaintances (and boyfriends) had never been as willing, so Piper had, over the years in New York, made it her mission to discover the places that accommodated all.

Once they were settled, meals were ordered and Piper was already working on her strawberry milkshake, she looked across the booth at Reyna. “How did you know I was feeling anxious about going back?”

“Because I am, too,” Reyna answered easily.

“You are?” Piper asked, surprised. Reyna was always so cool and collected, like she had the whole world figured out and knew how to bend it to her will – or at least punch it into submission. It was hard to think of her as _anxious_ , even sitting there across from Piper in the booth. Her expression gave nothing away. There were no bouncing knees or tapping fingers. Even her shoulders were relaxed.

Reyna stared at her Diet Coke, lips pursed. “I’m worried about Jason, of course, and that’s part of it. Thalia’s been a mess lately too, though.”

“She’s not dealing with all this well?” Piper asked, despite her hesitance to pry. 

They were in the unique position of being able to understand each other, at least a little. While Reyna had grown up with the Grace family, she was still, in many ways, an outsider of sorts. The fact that Thalia wasn’t straight was frowned upon by the family, Reyna had said as much explicitly. Being the woman Thalia was with made Reyna’s status among the more bigoted Graces tenuous, unwelcome. For years she’d been alone in her fight to support and love Thalia. She didn’t have to be anymore, though. Piper wanted to support Reyna just as much as Reyna had made it clear she wanted to support Piper.

It seemed Reyna wanted that support as well, because she didn’t hesitate to answer. “No. She keeps blaming herself for the position Jason’s been put in, saying it should be her instead. She even tried to convince their father to choose her in his place, but…” The sentence didn’t need to be finished. If Thalia’s generally rebellious spirit hadn’t been enough to make the Grace patriarch rule her out as successor, her sexuality definitely would have been. 

“It’s not her fault,” Piper sighed, her heart heavy. Of all the people to be at fault for Jason’s predicament, Thalia was the very last. If anything, Thalia feeling guilty made Piper want to scream, knock some heads against a wall, maybe – and there Piper fully understood why Reyna chose boxing to work out her frustration.

“As long as Jason is struggling, Thalia’s going to blame herself,” Reyna replied with a shake of her head. Their burgers and fries arrived at the table, steaming hot and smelling like heaven, but neither of them moved right away to eat. “She’s spent her whole life trying to protect him from their parents.”

“Jason’s mentioned a few times that their mom had a problem with alcohol while they were growing up,” Piper replied, feeling a little guilty for discussing it openly with someone else, even if that someone else had experienced most of it firsthand. “How… how bad was their dad, though?”

Reyna’s face darkened as she finally took a bite of her burger, chewing and considering the question. “The only time I’ve seen Thalia cry, at least since we were little, was because of their dad. Jove Grace has to control everything – the whole family, his children, his grandchildren, all their spouses – and when someone does something he doesn’t like, there’s hell to pay. We were just kids when Frank was born, but when his parents didn’t get married after, it threw the whole family into an uproar.”

“Hasn’t Jove been married like half a dozen times?” Piper asked, confused and more than a little grossed out by the fact she was not exaggerating that number. “Was having a grandson out of wedlock really that big of a deal?”

The question made Reyna scoff a laugh. “It wasn’t about Frank being born out of wedlock. Frank’s mom was the heiress to a massive international trading conglomerate. Jove wanted that in the family. He had Frank keep his mom’s family name instead of taking Grace, just to keep him tied to his grandparents, their company, and their influence.”

“Fuck,” Piper replied, her nose wrinkling at the thought, then going slack as another thought came to her. 

“That at least backfired on him a little,” Reyna continued, though from the look on her face and the tone of her voice, Piper got the impression it didn’t make her particularly happy. “After Emily died, her parents came down for the funeral and wanted to take Frank with them. Technically he’d become their direct heir, which was why Jove did everything in his power to keep Frank here. In the end he won, Frank stayed, but his grandmother ended up giving the family company to a cousin instead. Frank lost everything, but I’m sure it was barely a blip on Jove’s radar in the end, an annoyance.”

Piper had no idea what to say in reply, struggling to process all that information. The weight of that knowledge was heavy on her chest. Frank was such a gentle and kind person, thoughtful, intelligent and considerate. She knew he’d had more than his fair share of difficulties, between the bullying he’d endured and the loss of his mother so young, but the idea someone had purposefully ruined his life in such a selfish endeavor made Piper want to scream. That same person who had robbed Frank of half his family and his own inheritance now held Jason’s fate in the palm of his hand. It was unlikely Jove Grace would be any more delicate with his son’s happiness than he had been with Frank’s.

“He’s not going to like me, is he?” she finally asked, because thinking any more about Frank would quite possibly break her entirely.

“No,” Reyna answered, not bothering to mince words or spare Piper her feelings. If that two letter word hadn’t cut Piper straight through the heart, she might have laughed at how blunt Reyna had been.

“This lunch was supposed to make me feel better?” Piper asked, teasing despite the sudden sense of dread that had settled over her.

Countless times she’d worried about her past, how much she’d messed around, the way she’d rarely taken anything in life seriously, and how Jason felt about it. Early on she’d worried it would push him away. She wouldn’t have blamed him if it had, but he’d not once been bothered by it. If anything, he had always seemed to enjoy hearing about her exploits, teasing her when he could. Jason accepted everything she was, and the journey in life that had brought her there. For the first time she realized Jason’s opinion might not be the only one that mattered.

Add all of that to the fact that, while Piper had plenty of money now, she certainly didn’t come from a family with connections or status. The early years of her life money had been tight, both her parents struggling just to scrape by. From the perspective of someone like Jason’s father, Piper, at best, had nothing to offer to Jason. Her education had provided her with an insight into the world of the upper crust, but she was not one of them, not really. At worst, he would view her as a liability, a leech trying to use Jason to get ahead in life.

“I should have warned you I’m shit at making people feel better,” Reyna said, matching Piper’s tone even as her dark eyes shone with anguish.

Piper couldn’t help but laugh at that, though it sounded just a hint bitter. “At least the food is good.”

“There’s that,” Reyna agreed, glancing at her already half finished burger approvingly. “And now you know where to go when you want to hit something. Dakota’s there just about every day. Drop in whenever you want, but I can tell him to make a standing appointment for you on Sundays.”

“He won’t mind?” Piper asked, her brows raised.

Reyna shook her head, grinning. “You’re one of us now.”

Being so readily accepted into their family – the real family, the one that wasn’t hateful and greedy – was at once terrifying and completely fulfilling, but Piper hesitated. “Even though Jove is probably going to hate me?”

“ _Especially_ because he’s probably going to hate you,” Reyna answered, and her smile grew, a little sad, but mostly amused. Piper supposed that was how they all navigated the world, laughing at what they could in the midst of their sadness.

It didn’t really feel like much of a way to live.


	71. Chapter 71

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter contains explicit content.

“We had a picnic and then spent _hours_ in the park. Hours!” Hazel told Annabeth, her eyes wide and dreamy, her chin resting in one hand. “He got all nervous and fidgety, but he let me sketch him for a while and then pretended it wasn’t terrible when I showed him even though it was absolutely terrible. It was adorable. I didn’t even want to come home, but it started to rain and I knew he had an essay to finish, so I figured it was for the best.”

Annabeth was seated at the kitchen counter across from Hazel, listening happily as she recounted every detail of the four official dates she’d been on so far with Frank. “Did he give you a proper kiss goodbye?”

Giddy and very shy, Hazel covered her face with her hands and nodded. Annabeth had, of course, heard some of these details already, either in class or over lunch during the previous two weeks, but Frank had also been present. Within the safe confines of her own home, Hazel was free to spill to her heart’s content. All the little things she’d left out – like gushing over how sweet and cute Frank had been, or mentioning about every ten seconds how handsome he was – could be shared without censoring when it was only Annabeth hearing them.

Well, Percy was on the other side of the house in the living room, sprawled out on the couch and watching TV, but Annabeth got the impression Hazel wasn’t worried about him overhearing, and he wasn’t saying anything or teasing her about gushing.

Considering Annabeth’s very unconventional dating experience, it was especially fun to hear about Hazel and Frank’s more classic approach. Every date was planned ahead. They dressed up, went out, and shared chaste kisses goodbye at the door when Frank dropped Hazel off at home. At school or out at lunch they would sit next to each other and hold hands, but otherwise they seemed unchanged, the transition from friends who had huge crushes on each other to actual couple completely natural. It was something straight out of a movie and it suited the two of them perfectly, especially since they both seemed delighted simply by each other’s company.

“He’s still a little shy about kissing me first,” Hazel said, once she had collected herself enough to come out of hiding. “Is that normal?”

“It’s totally normal,” Annabeth assured her. “Frank is a shy guy in general and this is all really new to him. I’m sure once he’s built up a little more confidence and found his groove, he’ll be showering you in them.”

Hazel’s hands returned to her face, although this time she only covered her cheeks, which Annabeth suspected were growing hot. “I hope so. I really like kissing him, too.”

“It’s not awkward because he’s so tall?” Annabeth asked, grinning and very much enjoying Hazel’s excitement. 

As superficial as it was, the height difference between the two of them was one of the funniest, in an adorable way, things Annabeth had ever seen – Frank had at least a foot on Hazel, probably several inches more. Annabeth liked that Percy was taller than her, the way she could nestle her face against his chest to hide from the cold while he rested his chin on her head, or tuck herself under his arm and lean on him at the end of a long day. She would be annoyed if he was too tall, though, because she also liked being able to push up on her toes to kiss him or comfortably wind her arms around his neck.

“No, it’s really…” Hazel paused, tilting her head back and forth as she tried to find the right word. “Heart fluttering?”

“Well, good. You deserve it,” Annabeth said, unable to keep from laughing. The sheer happiness Hazel had been exuding since Spring Break was contagious and had been one of the highlights of Annabeth’s weeks, making the world seem a little brighter. It felt especially good knowing she had played a small part in making it happen, for both of them. Frank, though much more reserved and simultaneously struggling with the difficulties Jason was facing, had seemed pretty damn happy, too.

Glancing down at her phone, Hazel straightened from where she was leaned on the counter. “I’m late for dinner with Nico,” she said, tapping her thumbs against her phone screen in what Annabeth assumed was a text to her brother. “Thanks for listening to me ramble. I’ll see you later!” After a quick hug – Annabeth kind of loved Hazel hugs, which were a relatively new development in their relationship – Hazel rushed to grab her jacket, said goodbye to Percy, and then disappeared out the door.

Apparently whatever Percy had been watching wasn’t particularly important, because as soon as they were alone he turned the TV off and joined Annabeth in the kitchen. “I think she likes having another girl around to talk to regularly,” he told her as she turned around in her seat to face him. He slipped himself between her legs easily and wound his arms around her waist.

“Does she not have many girl friends?” Annabeth asked, surprised. Yes, Hazel was definitely on the introverted side, but Annabeth had found her to be one of the easiest people in the world to get along with, and charming to boot.

Percy shook his head, a little sadness in his expression – over the months Annabeth had noticed there was often that sadness in his eyes when he thought or talked about Hazel, especially their time together when they were young. “She’s always struggled to make friends, even when were kids. No one’s ever really let her forget she’s only Nico’s half-sister, that her parents had an affair, as if that was her fault, so she got used to keeping to herself. You being around, all those lunches together, and then the trip to Montauk, it’s meant a lot to her.”

Hearing that was a genuine surprise, Annabeth not even trying to hide it. “She approached me first the night of our party, though? And the next time we had class after that, she came to sit with me.”

“I think she did that for me,” he explained, a little sheepish. “Hazel knew I was into you and she was excited about the chance to get to know you.”

Annabeth wrapped her arms around his neck and hooked her legs behind him, pulling Percy closer and barely balancing on her stool. That was fine, she knew he wouldn’t let her fall. “Well, it’s meant a lot to me, too. You’ve made my life significantly more wonderful, you know?”

“That goes both ways,” he assured her, his voice low and quiet, the sadness in his expression beginning to fade.

“How so?” she asked, matching his tone. It was still hard for her to believe she might have changed his life so significantly for the better, after all she’d depended on him for and how little it felt like she’d been able to give to him in return.

When, instead of immediately answering, he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers, her heart fluttered contentedly in her chest. “You, Annabeth Chase,” he said after only a few seconds of that light kiss, his lips still close enough to brush hers as they shaped words, “reminded me that some things in life are worth fighting for. I’d been afraid for a long time to take any real risks, or want anything that was just for me. The night you stormed into my life, wild and huffy about pizza, of all things, that started to change.”

It wasn’t a tangible thing, and Annabeth wondered if it could even be compared to the fundamental ways he’d changed her life – the courage he’d given her to face what she once thought was impossible to face, the people he’d brought into her life, and the unwavering and unconditional support he’d offered her from the very beginning – but just hearing she had been able to give him anything was a comfort. She remembered the day after she’d come back from San Francisco, wondering if he had used her as an excuse to do something he’d wanted to all along. Percy shouldn’t need excuses to do what made him happy, and she would remind him of that at every opportunity until he got it through his thick skull, but until then she was glad to be his excuse, especially if being his excuse made his life even marginally better.

“I love you,” she said, feeling overwhelmed by the conviction in his voice and the sincerity of his words, and then they were done with teasing brushes of lips. Percy kissed her like it was the first time, full of desperate need and want, except it wasn’t the first time. They weren’t just beginning to understand each other, weren’t still practically strangers, they knew each other.

He knew she would scream him awake in the middle of the night if she even thought she’d spotted a spider. He knew she had a special talent for burning anything she tried to cook, and herself along with it. He knew she was too stubborn for her own damned good most of the time.

She knew he had to be reminded a thousand times to clean up after himself. She knew he didn’t think through the consequences of half the things that came out of his mouth. She knew he _still_ fell asleep in lectures, but often refused to go to bed at reasonable hours even when he had nothing in particular to stay up for. 

They knew it all, and even if there was still so much to learn, somehow the knowing only made them want each other more.

The very same want and need with which he kissed her washed over Annabeth in a violent, renewing wave. Since Montauk, the thought had been taking root in the back of her mind, that she needed _more_ of him, all of him. It had stayed there, simmering, tempting her every time he stripped her down, every time she ran her hands over his body, every time he whispered that he loved her instead of saying goodnight before they drifted off to sleep. The night before, so full of desperation for him in the wake of that dinner with her mother, the desire had grown even stronger, but she’d still hesitated, nervous, a little scared, wondering if her other emotions might have been altering her judgment.

On that kitchen stool, with his arms so firmly around her, her soul bared by even the simple act of kissing him, there was nothing to cloud her mind. There was only Percy. There was only loving him and needing him and wanting him. 

A lump formed in her throat and she pulled away enough to look him in the eye. The way his lips turned down into an objecting pout and his brow furrowed in concern made her smile and Annabeth grew that much more certain of herself. “I want you,” she told him, breathless and resolute, heart beginning to race.

“I’m yours,” Percy replied, his sea green eyes flickering across her face in slight confusion.

“And I’m yours,” Annabeth agreed, her smile stretching even wider as she let out a quiet laugh. “That’s not what I mean.”

Realization dawned on him slowly and she loved watching it happen, the way the wrinkles in his forehead smoothed out and his eyes grew wide. His arms tightened around her waist, pulling her so close she was barely even on the stool anymore, but his eyes continued to search her. “I’m going to need you to be very explicit here, Annabeth.”

Her teeth dug into her bottom lip as nervous excitement bubbled in her stomach and she noticed the way Percy’s eyes focused on the small movement. It hadn’t taken her long to realize how much doing that drove him crazy, and even though she didn’t exactly do it on purpose in the moment, it was still very satisfying to inspire that very predictable reaction. If she hadn’t been so entirely wrapped up in her own desire she might have teased him longer just for the fun of it.

“I want to have sex with you, Percy,” she replied, keeping her voice as even as possible. That was not an easy task, considering how fast her heart was racing and how excited she felt. “ _Sex_ , sex. Intercourse. I want you inside me.”

“That was pretty explicit,” he said, his expression slowly morphing into a smile to match hers.

“Would you like me to get more explicit, or are we going to go upstairs now?” she asked, though it was mostly her arms and legs keeping him pressed against her there at the kitchen counter.

Smile broadening, Percy pulled Annabeth entirely off her stool and deposited her safely on her feet. “I welcome it if you want to be more explicit, but I’d much rather take you upstairs.”

Neither of them said another word as they raced up the stairs, hand in hand. As soon as Percy’s bedroom door was shut behind them, Annabeth was reaching for his shirt tugging it over his head. Together they got hers off, too – one of his, that she’d slept in and been wearing all day around the house, as if she belonged in it just as much as he did. All his shirts felt more or less like they belonged to her now, and Percy had never uttered a single word in objection.

They stared at each other, stripped from the waist up, both already struggling to keep their breathing even. Her eyes trailed along his chest, down his abdomen, like they had countless times before. She felt his eyes on her, too, drinking her in with the same reverence as he did every single day. This, too, had become wonderfully familiar and natural. Annabeth was as confident standing before him naked as she was fully clothed, feeling like she had no need to hide and often desiring the opposite – she wanted him to see her, all of her.

Then his hands were on her, setting fire to her skin, and his mouth was claiming hers again. They stumbled back toward his bed. When her legs made contact she let herself fall back and Percy followed, barely even allowing their kiss to be broken even if it meant an awkward second of clattering teeth and responding giggles. Her legs wrapped around him again, pulling him lower against her. One of his hands moved to her chest, rough and eager to fondle.

Time ceased to exist. They were in no rush, enjoying themselves and each other as they wanted. She loved the way his tongue moved against hers and she knew he loved when her teeth pulled teasingly at his bottom lip. She sighed when his mouth found the spot at the base of her neck that always made her head spin and he sighed as her fingers traced the lines of muscles on his abdomen and around to the small of his back. Both of them laughed when he flipped their positions in an easy, confident motion, and then it was her turn to trail her mouth down his neck and his turn to touch every bit of exposed skin – although, admittedly, Percy always rounded back to her chest before long, and she loved that more than she would have ever have imagined possible.

When her mouth returned to his, she rolled her hips down against him and felt his erection, the sensation sending a wave of goosebumps over her skin and making heat pool in the pit of her stomach. She was so used to him now, the weight of him in her hand and the way he felt in her mouth, that something so simple shouldn’t have affected her as strongly as it did, but she was deeply affected. That night was different. As her hips rolled against him again she let out a quiet, whining moan and he responded in turn.

Percy was the one to flip them again, reclaiming his advantaged position. “I love you,” he muttered against her skin as his lips trailed back down. They didn’t stop at the base of her neck, though, and her fingers tangled in his hair as her chest arched up to meet him. Everything he did was slow, hot and tantalizing. His tongue circled her nipples, his hands dragged down along her thighs, and though he’d taken his time pleasuring her many times before, she had renewed appreciation for it. Letting her head fall back and enjoying the way he touched her was a simple, welcome task.

Finally, tortuously, his fingers hooked under the waistband of the shorts she’d been wearing under his shirt, pulled them and her underwear down her legs and off. Her toes curled as his hands trailed back up her legs, caressing every inch of her. When they turned inward he didn’t hesitate to slide those fingers through her center before finding her clit with his thumb and beginning to rub gentle circles. Shifting beneath him in response to the stimulation, she felt him smile against her skin as he began moving down her body yet again.

“You know I’m plenty happy with just this, right?” Percy asked softly, the words taking what felt like an eternity to penetrate the blissful daze her mind had already fallen into. As if to somehow make his point, it was then he chose to press a couple fingers inside her, shattering whatever train of thought she’d been developing. 

She had to settle into the pace he set before she had the clarity of mind to look down at him again. He hovered over her belly button, lightly mouthing against her stomach, looking positively smug. “Should I not have been bothering to get you off at all this whole time?” Annabeth teased, though it took great effort, running her fingers through his hair.

“I’m serious,” he insisted, Annabeth shivering at the way his lips brushed against her. She wanted them lower and definitely not talking.

“Yes,” she assured him, practically groaning the word as her hips jerked upward in response to the teasing of his fingers. The way he was moving them made it clear he was trying his best to make thinking impossible for her. “I do know, but if you stop to say that again, I’m really going to toss you out a window.”

“You wouldn’t dare, not before I got you off,” he replied, then tilted his head to begin grazing teeth and tongue down her stomach at a cruelly slow rate.

Her fingers curled tighter into his hair, her breathing turning increasingly erratic as his fingers and thumb picked up their pace. “I’m perfectly capable of getting myself off.”

Still taunting her, his mouth jumped straight from the flat of her stomach to the inside of her thigh, making her whine again as he started to suck and nip at her skin in a blatant attempt at leaving a bruise there. It would be visible in her swimsuits. People would see it. “Sure,” he said between nibbles, “but you know I’ll do it better.”

It was annoyingly true, because even if she could usually get herself there faster it was never as satisfying as when his hands and mouth were on her, and she huffed as her head fell back. “Whatever, just shut u–” She was the one who shut up, because that was the moment he decided to replace his thumb with his mouth and suddenly she didn’t care one bit about telling him off.

Heaven was, without a doubt, Percy with his face buried between her thighs. There was no other way to describe it, and each time he went down on her it got impossibly _better_. He had a gift for finding a balance between ruthlessness and gentleness, responding to Annabeth’s sighs and moans instinctively to make them come faster and louder. Usually he paired his mouth’s hard work with the twisting and pumping of his fingers, but occasionally he’d pull his hands away, hold her thighs down firmly, and let his tongue do all the work.

Getting her close to orgasm rarely took him long. Both her hands were in his hair, her legs struggling against the way he held them, and she felt the rumble of him laughing against her, self-satisfied as he sensed her getting close to release. She opened her eyes to look down at him, loving the sight of him between her thighs, and his eyes met hers. The pure admiration in his gaze was what pushed her over the edge. She bucked up against his face without shame, grinding into him to get every last ounce of pleasure he offered.

“You’re so fucking sexy,” he mumbled, almost like he himself couldn’t believe the truth of his own words, pulling his mouth away only when she had been reduced to a puddle of a human being.

“Have you ever looked in a mirror?” she replied with a breathless laugh, because really, as he climbed back up her body, all tanned skin and lean muscle, licking his lips as his mouth and chin glistened from her wetness, wearing a cocky little smirk reserved solely for the bedroom, he was without a doubt the sexiest man to have ever lived.

Every time his lips brushed her skin she could feel herself tremble. The pulse between her legs was still throbbing, her breathing refusing to even out. When he kissed her, she eagerly ran her tongue over his lips and pressed it into his mouth, tasting herself on him. Instead of wrapping her arms around him, though, her hands moved slowly down his body and began to pull at his sweats. He’d been in them far too long.

Laughing into their kiss, Percy adjusted himself to help her and soon she had him stripped, his erection free, pressing against her thigh. Instinctively, she reached for it and gave him a few gentle strokes, enjoying the way he groaned in response. Only then did she tilt her head away to break their kiss. “Condoms?”

“Right,” he grunted, a boyish grin pulling at his lips. 

He was excited, she realized. Even though he’d always been insistent that this wasn’t something he needed, and even though she really did know he would have been content to keep doing nothing more than what they’d been doing indefinitely, she could tell he was excited to take this step. Good, because a giggle bubbled out of her as he moved to get a condom from his bedside table.

She was excited, too. Not scared, not nervous, not tense. Excited. Giddy. _Happy_.

“I love you,” she whispered, watching intently as he ripped open the tiny packet and rolled the condom on. God, he really was sexy. Every inch of him, head to toe, and he was entirely hers.

“I love you, too,” he replied, grinning back as he settled above her. His eyes were intense, seeing right through her in the way only they could, and she took his face in her hands. “Tell me to stop if it hurts even a little, or even if you just start to feel uncomfortable,” he reminded her, his grin fading a little with the severity of his conviction.

Annabeth nodded her understanding, but she had a feeling there would be no problems.

This time when he kissed her, she wrapped her arms around him. She let herself get lost in that kiss, in the gentle way his lips moved against hers, the way even just kissing him managed to send shivers down her spine and set her veins on fire, two things that should not have been possible at the same time. There was still the subtle taste of herself on him and she relished even in that, the ache between her legs growing more intense at the reminder of how exquisite he could make her feel.

When he moved to line himself up, brushing his tip against her, she admittedly tensed up. Instead of letting panic overwhelm her, she wrapped her arms tighter around him, took a deep breath of his calming scent, and by the time he began to press himself inside her she had already relaxed again. He was gentle, slow, breaking their kiss so he could drop his head against her shoulder and breathe out a heavy, serene sigh.

It was strange, which she remembered, but not uncomfortable, and definitely not painful. What surprised her was that she did, actually, genuinely, _like_ it, the way he stretched her and the way her own body responded naturally to his. She allowed herself several deep breaths to acclimate herself to the sensation once he settled, a smile pulling at her lips, and then whispered, “Go ahead, I’m okay.”

Percy pressed a few kisses to her shoulder, again smiling against her skin, and then began to move. Just like the first press in, he continued gently, each pull back and push forward long and accompanied by quiet, extended moans. Surprisingly quickly, she grew used to the motion, and then she found herself encouraging him, coaxing him to pick up speed. It didn’t take much to convince him, but the first time she let out a startled, choked sound of pleasure in response to one of his more forceful thrusts, he stopped and pushed up to look at her.

“Still okay?” he asked, voice gravelly and strained from how much he was holding back. His whole body was tense under her fingers. Sweat beaded on his forehead.

Wanting her words to have sufficient impact, Annabeth pushed her hips up off the bed to meet his. “Better than okay.”

For a few seconds he continued to look at her, though she could tell he wasn’t staring in doubt. It was pure, unadulterated love in his eyes – well, not entirely unadulterated. There was quite a bit of lust in those beautiful green eyes, too, but considering how entwined her own love and lust for him were, she didn’t hold that against him.

His lips crushed hers as he kissed her again, and from there on out he wasn’t so gentle, and she didn’t at all mind. Their kiss became sloppy as his grunts and moans were stifled by it. The pace his hips set was still comfortable enough, but again it took her a little time to adjust to the change. She was just beginning to really enjoy herself again when one of his hands slipped between their bodies and his fingers found her clit. Soon he wasn’t the only one with grunts and moans being muffled by their kiss.

Honestly, even though she’d been confident she was ready, even though she’d known in her soul nothing with Percy could ever be anything short of spectacular, she was still surprised by the sheer pleasure. Not just the purposeful teasing of her clit, but the friction of him moving inside her, the impact of each thrust, felt _good_. There was also a special kind of gratification when finally his movements became erratic, restraint failing him, and he rode her into his own orgasm. She didn’t quite follow him, but that was fine, because she was already plenty sated from earlier. The weight of his body as he all but went limp above her was wonderful, too, and her hand slipped into his hair yet again, stroking it lovingly, while they both fought to catch their breath.

She didn’t want him to pull away, but she knew he needed to. Her breath hitched when he pulled out and the absence of his heated body sent a chill through her. Pressing her thighs together, feeling a different kind of strangeness now that he was gone, she watched closely as he disposed of the condom and wiped himself down. They were both smiling and, even with his focus on cleaning up, his eyes kept flickering back to her, unable to look away for more than a few seconds at a time.

As soon as he settled back in beside her, she rolled over and cuddled into his warmth. Her body felt unfamiliar, a hint of pleasure induced ache still pulsing between her legs, but it was a positive feeling. There were no signs of pain, just a contentedness that ran so deep it took on physical form. It would probably be a few days before she was ready to try that again, but she would be ready again, and sooner rather than later.

“That was perfect,” she whispered, before he had a chance to doubt himself.

Arm draped lazily around her waist, he hummed in agreement. It was early for them to fall asleep and Annabeth knew Percy was probably going to be starving in about ten minutes, since they hadn’t eaten dinner, but neither of them was eager to move. She pressed her face into his chest, taking in the scent of sweat and sex that clung to him and letting out a blissful sigh that made him rumble with laughter.

“Why tonight?” he asked gently, after a few minutes of comfortable, drowsy silence, twirling her curls between his fingers.

Annabeth tilted her head so her chin rested against his chest. “It just felt… right. I’m not sure it was anything special, just you.”

Percy seemed to like that answer, as he shifted slightly, shimmying down the bed so they were face to face and she could see his smile on full display. “I thought maybe it was all that talk at dinner last night making you hot for teacher.”

Even as she smiled back, her eyes were rolling. “Oh, yeah, that was totally it.”

“Do you wanna know a secret?” he asked, his eyes shining with mischief.

“I want to know all your secrets,” she replied easily, more greedy for them than he probably realized – the big ones, the small ones, and everything in between.

“Just the one for now,” he teased, though there was a momentary flicker of hesitation in his expression. It faded just as quick as it appeared and he continued, “I’ve always fantasized about sneaking you back to Coach’s office and getting you out of your infuriating suits after class.”

The confession made her laugh, pressing closer to him. “I’ve fantasized about that a few times, too.”

“Oh?” he replied, his eyebrows raising. She nodded. “Well, maybe I’ll just have to make that happen before the semester is up.”

“Maybe you will,” she agreed, a little thrilled by the prospect. Encouraging him was probably a bad idea – it sounded like the kind of thing that could only end in disaster – and she might very well not actually be up to doing something so risky, but fantasizing about it with him there in bed was exhilarating all the same. “Use your commanding, sexy teacher voice on me when you do.”

Again, Percy laughed. “You think that’s sexy, huh?”

“Since the very first day of class,” she confessed, shamed to have to admit it. All the way back to that first class, Percy had made her nothing short of horny. No matter how much she’d tried to fight it, and even though she had been so confused about what he thought of her, her mind had been lost to the gutter the moment she met him. At least she now knew he’d been just as attracted to her at the time.

“You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Annabeth Chase,” Percy said softly, the teasing and mischief disappearing, leaving his voice saturated with nothing but an earnest tenderness.

Despite the way his words made warmth spread in her chest, she kept on with the teasing. “You’re a world record holding, up and coming swimming star.”

“You’re still better,” he replied without hesitation.

“In a few months you’re probably going to be an Olympic champion,” she pressed, her smile widening at just the thought of how proud she was going to be when that happened – and it would, she knew it, she believed in him with all her heart.

Percy shook his head, though she could tell her faith in him made him happy. “You’ll still be better. You’ll always be better.”

“Yeah, well,” she replied, leaning in to nuzzle her nose against his, feeling stupidly mushy, “you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, too, Percy Jackson.” She only had a few seconds to appreciate his responding, blinding smile before he was kissing her again.


	72. Chapter 72

“Well you certainly look…” Jason paused, looking Piper over again with his eyebrows pressed so close together they were at great risk of melding into a unibrow. Finally he decided to backtrack and go with, “You’re always beautiful.”

He was trying, Piper had to give him that. And, realistically, she couldn’t blame him for the reaction. The dress she wore was certainly not something she would be wearing under any normal circumstances, but they were no longer living in a world of normal circumstances.

They had been _summoned_. Jason’s father, the infamous Jove Grace, was in the city on business and wanted to meet Piper, so they were expected to drop everything and be at his beck and call. It had taken all of Piper’s self control not to roll her eyes right out of her head when Jason had told her the news. Jason needed moral support, though, not exasperation. Thankfully Reyna and Thalia had been there when Jason announced their summons on Sunday evening and had done plenty of eye rolling in Piper’s place.

So, late Tuesday morning, Jason arrived at Piper’s door to pick her up and take her to the lunch date from hell.

In order to impress Jove – which Piper honestly thought was the stupidest and most pretentious name, especially considering he plastered it everywhere he could manage – and be as proper and presentable as possible, Piper had opted for a pastel pink, almost ankle length dress, with a bateau neckline, butterfly sleeves and a flowery crocheted overlay. It was the girliest, flowiest, most feminine thing in her closet. Piper didn’t even remember buying it, which meant it had probably been a drunken online shopping spree purchase. Along with the delicate bun she’d managed to pin her choppy layers into and the pink palate she’d chosen for her makeup, Piper could easily have been mistaken for someone else entirely. Even to her own eyes she’d looked ridiculous, and apparently Jason was in agreement. That, at least, made her heart a little floaty – he didn’t like it because it wasn’t _her_.

“My step-mother is coming too,” Jason told Piper as they sat in the backseat of a town car on their way to the restaurant his father had chosen. They no longer needed to rely on apps like Uber or taxis to get around when they were traveling too far to walk. Jason had gained an assigned driver and car along with his new status within the family.

“What’s she like?” Piper asked, trying not to bounce right out of her seat as she struggled with her nervous jitters.

Jason considered her question surprisingly heavily. “She’s not my least favorite of his wives, at least,” he finally replied, his brow returning to its earlier, deeply furrowed state. “Frank’s grandma is definitely the worst – hates Dad and just about everyone else in the family, but is always around. I’d say Apollo and Diana’s mom is my favorite.”

A ranking system. Jason had a ranking system for his father’s wives. Ranking systems were supposed to be for cereals and movies and, for massive nerds like Annabeth, pencils. Piper felt ridiculous for how resistant she’d been to Naomi who was, by all measures, actually a pretty great person and only her father’s first wife. It also made her a little sad to realize he probably included his own mother in that ranking system and she didn’t even take the top spot.

Having already been holding it, Piper gave his hand a supportive squeeze. “It’s just lunch, we’ll be fine,” she said, as much for herself as for him. All Jason did was nod in agreement, looking as unconvinced as she felt.

At least the restaurant was nice – though Piper was reminded of how Annabeth had said almost those exact words the night she went to Fredrick’s gala, and thinking the very same thing about her own father’s wedding. Some of the worst days of the previous few months had taken place in beautiful locations and venues. Bad things happened in beautiful, luxurious places just as often as they happened in darkened street corners or dirty back alleys.

Piper found herself thinking about the gym Reyna had taken her to, the diner they’d had lunch in after, longing for the simplicity and ordinary atmospheres that felt comfortable and relaxed, not foreboding. It was the difference between the home she’d built with Annabeth in New York and the cold, modern mansion her father owned in Malibu. It was the difference between who Piper had become and the person she used to be. It was the difference between what was real and what was just an empty display meant to impress.

They were seated at a large, round table surrounded by four white padded chairs without any wait, though Piper figured that had more to do with the status attached to the Grace name than how busy the restaurant probably was. Everything in the dining room was snow white, a beautiful aesthetic, but too pristine, unsettling and disorienting. Floor length windows filled two of the walls, letting in the bright April sunlight. The place was filled, but the space between tables and limited seating meant it was neither loud nor crowded.

While they had arrived a few minutes early, they still waited twenty minutes for Jason’s father and step-mother to arrive – well past the time they were supposed to meet. Piper supposed being one of the most powerful men in the world really did mean never being late, everyone else was just early. As much as she had joked about that herself, it was rude to leave people waiting, especially when they’d already adjusted their entire day for the meeting.

God, Piper really did not like the man and she hadn’t even met him yet.

Jove Grace wasn’t as tall as Jason. He wasn’t as handsome as Jason, either. For a man in his early seventies, with a cruel glare and few smile lines, he wasn’t completely terrible looking, though. She remembered from pictures she’d seen online that he used to have hair the same jet black as Thalia’s, but it had all turned to gray. He did share their startling blue eyes, but where Thalia’s held the heat of a scorching summer afternoon and Jason’s the brightness of a mid-spring morning, Jove’s eyes were cold and unforgiving, like a clear sky after an ice storm had ravaged the city and made every step on the sidewalk a dangerous, slippery gamble.

“Traffic in this city really is out of hand,” Jove grumbled as he and his wife seated themselves, unbuttoning his blazer. No apology for their tardiness, just a complaint.

The most recent Mrs. Grace was significantly younger than her husband – just thirty-four according to the internet, younger than most of Jason’s siblings. She wore a simple blue dress, her brown hair left to hang over her shoulders in loose, carefully sculpted waves. When she took her seat she barely gave either Piper or Jason a passing glance in greeting. Not the worst of his father’s wives, Jason had said. Lovely.

“Dad,” Jason said, his voice cautious and guarded, “I’d like to introduce you to my girlfriend, Piper McLean.”

Taking a deep breath and saying the words she’d practiced as naturally as possible, Piper said, “It’s wonderful to finally meet you, sir.”

“Yes,” Jove replied, giving Piper a very skeptical once over. From just that one look it was clear he’d already made his mind up about her and had decided she was, at best, only barely an acceptable match for his precious son. She didn’t want to think about at worst.

 _No_ , she thought. It wasn’t Jason who was precious, it was the Grace empire, the empire Jason would be inheriting, that was so precious to Jove. His son was just a tool to ensure his legacy.

Without further ado they ordered their meals. The menu had little in the way of vegetarian offerings, but Piper had long grown used to being in that situation and ordered what was available without complaint. Just doing that earned her a disapproving look from Jove, as if even her vegetarianism was somehow objectionable to him. Again, people turning their nose up to her choice of diet was not uncommon, but it was infuriating to have someone so clearly judging her no matter how much experience she had with it.

While waiting for appetizers, Jove asked Jason some empty questions about school and their fast approaching finals. Jason didn’t air any of his grievances about the waste he felt his degrees were now going to. He was formal and cool, not once smiling as he spoke to his father. Piper tried not to focus on the evident pain in his expressions, not when she was so powerless to relieve that suffering in the moment.

It was over appetizers that Jove said the first thing that truly shocked Piper, though. “Is it true Frank is seeing that di Angelo bastard now?” he asked, without even looking up from his plate.

Out of the corner of her eye, Piper saw Jason’s fork and knife freeze, his fingers curl around the utensils so tightly his knuckles began turning white. She counted to three before Jason replied, voice tightly controlled. “Frank is seeing Hazel Levesque, yes.”

Piper understood, from what little she’d heard about them, that Hazel was Nico’s _half_ -sister, born from an affair. Beyond that – like why Hazel used her mother’s name or why Hazel had been raised by her father and Nico’s mother and not her own mother – Piper had no idea. Even Annabeth knew next to nothing about the history surrounding the di Angelo family, and Piper had a feeling there were several reasons for that.

“I guess half a di Angelo is still better than none,” Jove replied with a humph. The implication was obvious enough to Piper. She was no di Angelo, not even half one.

A jab at Piper was one thing. Piper could handle that, brush it off and move on. That said, the insult to Hazel was unacceptable. It was true Piper knew very little about the girl, but Hazel was an undeniably good person. She was sweet and considerate, had jumped into action to get Cal dry clothes that rainy night in Montauk, always greeted people with a smile, and oozed a warmth of character Piper had long learned was rare and precious. Hazel was smart, talented, funny and bright. During their brief encounters and on their trip to Montauk Piper had grown very fond of Hazel Levesque, and she knew Annabeth was even more so. To see her so cruelly degraded to _half a di Angelo_ when she was such an amazing and remarkable person was sickening.

What to say failed Piper, though. Any words she might throw at the man across the table from her felt either completely inadequate or like they would be turned against Jason somehow. She’d only finished half her appetizer, and it tasted good enough, but she suddenly felt too ill to take another bite.

“Have you decided what you’re doing after graduation, Piper?” Jove asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

Swallowing down her nausea, Piper nodded politely. “I’ve been offered a position assisting in the communications department at the NYCLU.”

“It was a very competitive opportunity,” Jason offered, a small smile playing at his lips for the first time since he’d picked her up. Piper had only received the call about being hired the day before and Jason had been, quite possibly, even more proud of her than Annabeth. They were already planning to go out and celebrate with everyone Friday night.

“Only an assistant?” Jove replied, unimpressed, his eyebrows raised.

“An entry level position, yes,” Piper confirmed, trying to keep her voice even. “I only have a couple summers experience interning. The higher level positions require at least a few years experience, but I’m looking forward to working my way up and I’m really just thankful for the opportunity to help make a difference. The NYCLU does important work.”

Jove tilted his head and looked at Jason, admonishment in his eyes. “You didn’t try to find Piper a position in one of our outlets? I’m sure there would have been something available more suitable than assistant.”

“She didn’t need or want me to,” Jason replied without hesitation.

“I’m sure,” Jove said, as if he couldn’t believe it, as if Piper hadn’t just told him about the job she’d secured on her own, by her own merits, and was excited to start.

The last thing she had ever wanted from Jason was a leg up professionally, and she had decided long before meeting him that she wanted to work in non-profit. The Grace family did, of course, have a charitable foundation attached to their name, as most ridiculously wealthy families did, but she doubted they were involved with the kind of work she was interested in. Her job offer at the NYCLU didn’t pay much, but she’d known going in she wouldn’t be making the big bucks doing what she wanted, and her dad had been clear he’d support her. While he didn’t take much interest in her life, Tristan – and Naomi – had sounded pleased when she’d told them her news the night before, as well.

All Piper ever wanted or needed from Jason was his love and _moral_ support.

Conversation switched to the neutral topic of the work Jason would be doing when he graduated, the plans Jove had for slowly advancing Jason within their company as he established himself as a leader. A few times Jason was asked about his mother’s well being or Thalia, though they kept those discussions especially short. Piper continued to struggle to be able to eat even as their entrees arrived. A few nibbles here, a bite there, all while she and Mrs. Grace listened to the men talk, like they were housewives from the fifties and nothing more than pretty accessories, rather than people of their own who could contribute constructively to the discussion. That was probably for the best, if only because Piper didn’t trust herself not to snap at Jove at the drop of a hat.

Lunch felt to Piper like it took an eon, but eventually the others had finished eating and the check was requested. Jason shook his father’s hand outside the restaurant as they said their goodbyes, Piper reiterating through gritted teeth that it was _wonderful_ to have met Mr. and Mrs. Grace. She’d never felt less bad for lying to someone’s face.

Once they were alone again, still on the sidewalk outside the restaurant, Jason took her hand. “I could use some air, want to walk for a bit?”

“That sounds wonderful,” Piper agreed with a heavy sigh, lacing their fingers together and holding tight to him.

For a few minutes they walked in silence, both of them collecting their thoughts. Silence with Jason had, surprisingly, never been uncomfortable. Even in their first few weeks of dating, Piper hadn’t felt the need to fill it with forced, awkward conversation. It had been one of the very first things she’d loved about him, even if sometimes she wished he would more readily and openly talk about himself.

“Are you okay?” he finally asked, when there were several blocks between them and the restaurant. “I noticed you didn’t eat much.”

“It was a lot to process,” she admitted, refusing to lie to him. “I’m not sure okay is the right word, but don’t worry.” 

Piper didn’t know how to express everything she was feeling to him. Even still, close to an hour later, she was angry over the way Hazel had been spoken about, at herself for not being able to speak up, maybe even a little at Jason for not doing it, either. Her heart ached to think this was the father Jason had grown up with. Having a distant, borderline negligent father was one thing – having an actively cruel and judgmental father was entirely different. The same lost, helplessness she’d been struggling with for weeks threatened to drive her absolutely insane. More than anything she wanted to run away, not from Jason, but _with_ him, away from all of this to a place where no one could touch them.

Jason wouldn’t want to run though, even if he could.

“He’ll come around,” Jason assured her, though like earlier when she’d told him they’d be fine, it sounded like he, too, was trying to convince both of them. “You’re too amazing for him not to come around to.”

“I’m not exactly a pristine, well-bred socialite, Jason,” Piper replied, trying to sound teasing but just sounding bitter instead.

“You’re better than all of them,” he said, and at least about that he sounded sure. Stopping, he turned to look at her, his eyes bluer and brighter than the clear sky above them. “And I don’t want you to have to be… be _this_ ,” he said, waving his free hand at her dress and general appearance, “just to please them. God, Pipes, you look ridiculous. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life and this makes you so… I don’t even know, but I hate it. I hate it. I hate the way he talked about Hazel. I hate the way he looked at you. I hate the way he ignored his own goddamned wife that entire meal. I hate everything he expects of me and the way he thinks the whole world revolves around him and what he wants. It’s bullshit. All of it.”

For weeks Jason had been holding back, and while his outburst was subdued compared to what might be expected of anyone else, it still made Piper feel like a weight was being lifted. Without a word in response, she took his face between her hands, pushed up on her tip toes and pulled him down to kiss. His lips responded to hers with more life and fire than she’d felt from them since the breakfast with his family over Spring Break. Shamelessly, he reached up and pulled her hair from the pins and bands that contained it, and she had a feeling he would have ripped her dress right off her and to shreds if they hadn’t been in the middle of the sidewalk in plain view.

When she finally pulled away from him, not at all ashamed of having just all but made out with him out in the open, he was smiling the genuine, wide and gorgeous smile that made the scar on his mouth especially prominent and always left her a little weak in the knees.

“Don’t ever dress like this for them again,” he said, his fingers pulling at the fabric of her dress, and she very desperately wanted to get him home so he _could_ rip it to shreds. “Please, Piper. Don’t change. I need _you_ , not the person my dad or anyone else thinks you should be.”

“Never again,” she promised, breathless but resolute. It was a promise she would keep.


	73. Chapter 73

“You didn’t have to get her a present, you know,” Percy said, the day of Estelle’s fifth birthday, as he and Annabeth stood hand in hand in the elevator of his family’s building. “She’s spoiled enough as it is.”

Annabeth elbowed him gently in the side. In Annabeth’s other hand was a massive, sparkly gift bag containing the equally giant present Annabeth had picked out for Estelle over a week before. “And who does most of that spoiling?” she asked, knowing the answer full well.

“Definitely Leo,” Percy said, a blatant lie. Annabeth had seen the pile of presents Percy had prepared for Estelle when she’d been at his place on Sunday. There had been so many that he’d needed to make a special trip just to deliver them the day before. All Annabeth could do was roll her eyes and smile.

She was especially thankful for how easily Percy could make her smile that afternoon. Annabeth wanted to be in a good mood for the party, but a voice in the back of her mind nagged her with worry for Piper. Somewhere out there, at that very moment, Annabeth’s best friend was meeting Jason’s father for the first time, facing down someone who was practically a living, breathing, human monster, at least if the rumors about him were true. There was little Annabeth could do for Piper, though. They would have to wait until that night or the next day to be able to debrief and deal with whatever fallout followed in Jove Grace’s wake. At least she took solace in knowing Piper would call or text if anything particularly terrible happened.

Nothing particularly terrible would happen. Annabeth clung a little more tightly to Percy’s hand, repeating that thought to herself.

As soon as Percy opened the door to his family’s apartment, a very small and excited voice screamed, “Beth!” and Annabeth saw a streak of poofy blue dress and curly brown hair racing toward her. She barely had enough time to squat down and open up her arms before Estelle crashed into her and crushed her in a hug. That wonderful, choking grip also did a very good job of distracting Annabeth from the terrible thoughts threatening to ruin her day.

“Happy birthday, little princess,” Annabeth said, laughing and feeling exceptionally giddy about the energetic greeting.

“I’m five today,” Estelle said proudly, leaning back enough to grin at Annabeth. She held up one hand with all five fingers spread wide.

“And I’m invisible,” Percy complained, looking over at Sally who’d just walked in from the kitchen. As Annabeth hefted the now five year old Estelle in her arms and stood, Percy stared at them with a defined pout on his lips. His jealousy was adorable and Annabeth only felt a little guilty for being the object of it.

“You had a good run as her favorite,” Sally consoled him, coming over to give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“Leo’s was longer last time around,” he continued to whine, returning his mother’s hug all the same.

Getting her own hug and kiss from Sally a second later, Annabeth added, “He’s going to be whining about this for a week, at least.” She still felt a bit nervous around Sally, partially for the simple fact Sally was the mother of the man Annabeth loved, but at that point mostly because Sally was just such an all around impressive woman.

“Come on in,” Sally signaled, taking the gift bag out of Annabeth’s hand and moving to add it to the outrageous pile already assembled in the living room. The party wasn’t going to start for another couple hours. That pile was only Percy’s family’s doing. Estelle really was spoiled, and definitely not just by Percy, but Annabeth had no regrets about her small contribution. 

“Do you want to see my room?” Estelle asked Annabeth then, shy and hesitant. Both Percy and Sally looked flabbergasted by the girl’s tone.

“I would love to see your room,” Annabeth answered confidently, making Estelle beam. After being carefully returned to the floor, Estelle’s tiny hand slipped into Annabeth’s and tugged her with more strength than should have been possible down the hall. Annabeth barely had a chance to give Percy and Sally a little wave before the living room disappeared from view.

It was, more or less, what Annabeth expected of a five year old’s room – bright colors, a twin sized bed, posters and pictures all over the walls, toys scattered around. The last time Annabeth had been at the apartment, she hadn’t really had a chance to see it, so there was plenty for Estelle to show off. While Estelle excitedly began sharing her favorite toys, Annabeth sat on the edge of the twin bed and listened with more attentiveness than any lecture at school. 

For years Annabeth had been, admittedly, scared of kids. They were unpredictable, Annabeth not really understanding them or how they worked. Estelle was easy, though. She was fun. Somehow Annabeth knew exactly what questions to ask to get the girl animatedly talking about the things she loved. Spending a few hours at a time with a five year old was a far cry from having kids of her own, but for the first time in her life Annabeth didn’t find the prospect absolutely terrifying.

And then she felt ridiculous, because thinking about having kids was ludicrous.

They’d been in Estelle’s room for about half an hour when Annabeth heard the door open again and a man’s voice call out, “Where’s my birthday girl?”

“Daddy!” Estelle screamed, in the same way she’d screeched Annabeth’s name not long before, and then she was darting from her bedroom and out to greet her father. With a laugh, Annabeth wondered if this was how Estelle reacted every time someone came home. Much slower, she followed Estelle out to the living room to meet, for the first time, Percy’s (step-)father.

Paul Blofis was every single cliché Annabeth might have been able to conjure up about a high school English teacher. He had a full, graying beard and matching head of hair, wore a sweater vest and thick glasses. His eyes were surrounded by smile lines, which were all crinkled from the smile he was wearing as he bounced his daughter in his arms and sang her a preemptive chorus of Happy Birthday. She smiled back at him with complete adoration. Annabeth had known several teachers like him over the years. They were always the best ones.

As Sally and Percy came out of the kitchen to greet Paul, Annabeth stood back. This was family time and it was hard not to feel like an intruder, someone who didn’t quite belong. That was, until about ten seconds later Estelle said, “Daddy, Beth’s here!” and pointed in her direction.

“Well, it feels like I’m meeting a celebrity,” Paul said as his eyes followed Estelle’s finger and landed on Annabeth. She stepped into the living room and held her hand out to Paul, who shook it. She wasn’t exactly sure what to say to that and wondered whether that celebrity status came from Estelle’s talking about her or Percy’s. Probably both. “It’s good to finally meet you, Annabeth,” he added in place of her awkward silence.

“You too,” Annabeth was quick to say, honest and thankful he’d cut her that slack.

Sally gave her husband a quick peck on the lips by way of greeting and picked up a grocery bag from the floor. “Did they have them?”

“Had to go to two stores, but I found ‘em,” Paul replied easily, and he followed Sally into the kitchen with Estelle still carried in his arms, continuing to discuss his grocery run with her.

“Veggie burgers for Grover and Juniper,” Percy explained, coming over to slip his arms around Annabeth’s waist and kiss her. He’d been especially greedy for kisses since Sunday, though Annabeth wasn’t about to begin complaining. She had been a little extra greedy for them herself.

In the middle of his family’s apartment was probably not the best location for a make out session, though, especially because a few seconds later Sally called teasingly from the kitchen, “Keep it PG out there, kids.”

“ _Mom_!” Percy complained when he immediately jerked away, his cheeks painted a surprising shade of pink. Sally and Paul both laughed from the kitchen.

“Yeah, you better keep it PG,” Annabeth told him, her lips set in a thin, stern line.

There was no blushing in response to her teasing, just narrowed eyes and his arms tightening around her waist. “You’re worse than I am,” he replied in a whisper.

“Absolutely not. You’re the worst,” she said, but it was hard not to smile. If she were being honest, they were equally bad.

Amusement making his eyes dance, he leaned in and kissed her again, but he kept it adequately PG and pulled away only a few seconds later. Taking her hand, Percy led Annabeth into the kitchen to join the rest of his family. They had, after all, arrived early to assist Sally and Paul in preparing for the storm of four and five year olds who would soon be arriving for the party. 

Unfortunately most of the work that needed to be done was food related. Annabeth tried to help, she really did, but the first time she sliced her finger trying to help prep burger toppings she was relegated to the job of keeping Estelle entertained instead. At least she was good at that, and it was easy enough since it mostly entailed watching as Estelle went out into the living room to shake all of her presents in anticipation and make outlandish guesses about what they might be.

Soon they were joined by Hazel, Leo and Cal. This time Cal’s arrival was not a surprise. Leo had called late Sunday night and asked Percy (and Annabeth) if it was alright for Cal to come into the city and spend the week with them, primarily so she could be there for Estelle’s birthday. Neither Percy nor Annabeth had hesitated to say yes. It was a little awkward, sure, but considering Percy spent most of his time at Annabeth’s and Cal was apparently sneaking into Leo’s room at night – well, that second bit alone did away with most of the awkwardness pretty quick when Hazel had snitched on Monday morning in swim class.

Leo still refused to confirm they were dating, but everyone knew.

When, a little over an hour later, the rest of Estelle’s guests arrived, Annabeth learned quickly that one five year old was fun, but a dozen of them was not. How so many of them managed to fit in the small apartment, Annabeth had no idea. It seemed like there was a four or five year old in every nook and cranny of the living room and kitchen, screaming or jumping on someone or crashing into something. What was even more bizarre to her was how expertly Leo and Percy handled and corralled them, keeping them focused on party games and preventing the worst of the noise and damage.

“It’s because they have the same mental capacity,” Cal said softly about halfway through the party, making Hazel choke on the drink of punch she’d just taken and Annabeth bark a laugh.

Grover and Juniper arrived just as Paul had hopped out onto the fire escape and started up the grill to make burgers, which Percy commented was a result of Grover’s sixth sense when it came to food. Annabeth hadn’t seen him since Percy had taken her to The Grove over two months before, but he greeted her with a hug like an old friend and introduced her to his fiance – a pixie of a young woman with braided auburn hair, a splattering of freckles and light green eyes. Juniper was absorbed into the panel of observing girls sticking to the edges of the apartment while Grover joined Leo and Percy in the expert child wrangling.

Somehow, of all the adult laps in the room, Annabeth’s was chosen as the birthday girl’s seat when it came time to open presents. Annabeth felt a little shy being the indirect center of attention, especially as Sally snapped countless photos of the endless process that was Estelle working through the mountain of gifts. She didn’t entirely see how she was worthy of being such an integral part of the memories of the day, but no one else seemed bothered by it in the slightest. It also became easier to forget her own insecurities as she watched Estelle rip through wrapping paper and cheer excitedly at her many, many presents. Estelle’s enthusiasm and wonderment remained steady between the more exciting gifts (like the new bike with training wheels Sally and Paul got her) and the items Annabeth would have expected to be disappointing for a kid her age (particularly the pack of socks one of Paul’s aunts had sent), which Annabeth found both endearing and entirely too wholesome.

There was also the massive, crushing hug Annabeth received when Estelle opened the fort building kit in Annabeth’s gift bag. Percy had complained it was too expensive, but Annabeth hadn’t cared. As soon as she’d seen it, she’d known she wanted it just so she and Estelle could build a million forts in the living room together.

Maybe Percy’s Estelle spoiling problem was contagious.

After presents was cake, and after cake one dozen four and five year olds seemed like three dozen. Thankfully, blessedly, Sally the Genius Mother had planned for it and the next item on their party itinerary was a trip to the park down the street so the kids could run their sugar highs off freely. It was quickly decided that Sally and Paul would go with the guys and the girls would stay behind to do a little damage control with the mess that had been made during the first half of the party.

On his way out, a bag of Estelle’s new toys over his shoulder so the kids could play with them, Percy stopped and asked, “You really okay staying behind?”

“Of course,” Annabeth replied, laughing in surprise. A break sounded heavenly and the other girls were much more soothing company than all those kids. Annabeth wasn’t sure she had the energy to keep up with the kids, especially once they were outside and roaming freely.

Percy’s eyes bounced around her face, a lopsided grin on his lips. “I love you,” he said, much more gently and sincerely than she was prepared for in the midst of the party’s madness.

“I love you, too,” she replied, laughing again, this time breathlessly after getting the air knocked out of her. “Now, go. You have a dozen little monsters to help your parents with.”

“Told you Estelle was a monster,” he teased, halfway out the door with Leo trailing close behind, also lugging a bag of toys and shouting something about racing to the park.

Annabeth waved, rolling her eyes. “Because she takes after her brothers, just like Hazel warned me.”

“Both of them,” Hazel added helpfully, and then, once the door was closed behind them, she added to the small remaining group, “Seriously, sometimes living with them is a nightmare.”

A collective sigh of relief was breathed in the surreal silence that followed the party leaving. Even with the daunting task of having to manage a mountain of wrapping paper and a small army’s worth of paper cups and plates, they could finally take a breath and clear their heads – and actually hear each other without having to practically shout over tiny, screaming voices. Being able to talk was probably the best part. The four women silently agreed on starting their cleanup with the mountain of wrapping paper piled up in the living room.

“Why do you live with Percy and Leo?” Cal asked, her head tilted to one side in curiosity. Many times Annabeth had wondered that question herself, but always been cautious to ask considering what she knew about Percy’s history with Hazel’s family.

A smile pulled at Hazel’s lips, thankfully not bothered by the potential loaded gun of a question. “When I moved to the city for school I was scared to live alone, so I asked my parents if it was okay for me to have a couple roommates. My dad said he didn’t care, as long as my brother wasn’t one of them, and since Percy and Leo were my best friends and they were already going to NYU, too, it just made sense. They had passed the bigger room here to Estelle when she was born and were crammed into the room Paul uses as an office now. When I offered, they jumped at the chance.”

“Your parents were more comfortable with a couple weirdos like Leo and Percy living with you than your own brother?” Cal asked, making Hazel smile wider and Annabeth choke on a laugh.

“They _hate_ that Nico is in a band instead of going to school. It was a huge fight when he decided not to go to college,” Hazel explained, her eyes flashing with what Annabeth could only classify as pride. “Nico was so cool the day he told them he wasn’t going. I’d never seen him stand up for himself like that, shouting things like, ‘I don’t need you! I can make it on my own!’ before storming out. Not wanting him at the brownstone is more about punishing him for that than them caring about what I do.”

Hazel said it so casually, but Annabeth wondered how deeply the lack of Hazel’s parents caring really went, and how much that indifference must have hurt. Attempting to play it off as a funny anecdote of sorts seemed easy enough, but Annabeth had been both herself – the one parents didn’t care about and the one they were trying to punish and control. Neither was a fun position to be in.

“Have you chosen a date for the wedding yet?” Hazel asked Juniper, a quick change of subject, but one Annabeth got the impression had more to do with Hazel’s genuine curiosity than discomfort about the former subject.

Juniper beamed. “Next spring, April 15th,” she answered. “We’d talked about doing something in the fall, because the colors are so beautiful and we definitely want to do it outdoors, but this fall would be too soon to realistically get everything done, with managing the diner and all, and neither of us wanted to wait until _next_ fall, so spring was the best choice.”

“I think spring suits the two of you,” Hazel replied, nodding as if there were no contest. “It feels weird that we’re old enough to talk about getting married, though.”

“Right?” Juniper asked, her eyes wide. “I sometimes feel like I should be going to homeroom instead of the diner in the mornings. It doesn’t help that the boys still act like we’re in high school whenever they’re together.”

“How long have you known each other?” Cal asked.

Juniper’s lips pursed and her head tilted as she considered the question. “Well, I met Grover at a summer camp we both went to when we were in middle school. We didn’t start dating until high school, though, and that’s when I met Percy, then Leo and Hazel a little after.”

“I didn’t see much of Juniper until I started college, though,” Hazel offered. “I only spent summers and a few weeks over winter break here, and most of the summer Juniper and Grover were at camp and we were in Montauk.”

Cal nodded, thinking for a few seconds. “I always wondered, why did you spend your summers with the Jacksons? I remember you were with them for a few summers before Sally met Paul, too.”

Hazel ran her hands over the paper she’d been folding, flattening it more than was necessary for it to be recycled. “I never really liked living with my dad and step-mom. The best years were the couple Percy and Sally were there, but then… then they moved back to the city. I missed them like crazy, so I tried to run away a few times. Because a runaway daughter didn’t look too good and was causing all sorts of problems for him, my dad made me a deal – he let me spend my breaks with the Jacksons as long as I didn’t try running away during the rest of the year.”

Chewing on her bottom lip, Annabeth found herself trying to rectify this information with the rest of what she knew about Percy and Hazel’s story, the few details she knew of Hazel’s sister’s death. Apparently Hazel’s father prioritized keeping his image clean over worrying about Hazel’s involvement with Percy, which again had her commiserating over her own father’s priorities. Clearly Cal wasn’t aware of that history between Percy and the di Angelos, Annabeth didn’t know if Juniper was, and even if they had known, Annabeth wouldn’t have brought it up. Still, she wondered about the pieces she was missing.

Her thoughts on the matter were interrupted when Juniper asked Cal, “How long have you and Leo been dating? Grover hadn’t mentioned it to me and usually he’s the biggest gossip in all five boroughs.”

“Technically we aren’t,” Cal replied with an eye roll so massive it was worthy of Piper McLean. That expression made Annabeth feel an unexpected wave of affection.

“Really?” Annabeth found herself asking without thinking, her awkwardness with Cal momentarily forgotten in favor of sating her curiosity. “Percy and I thought Leo was just trying to be difficult whenever he denied it.”

“Oh, he’s being difficult, alright,” Cal replied, letting out a huff. “If he thinks I’m going to Massachusetts with him next month _before_ he even–” She froze, her eyes going wide as she looked around the group, who all stared back at her with equally wide eyed and surprised expressions.

It was Hazel who broke the stunned silence, barely speaking above a whisper. “You’re going to Massachusetts with him?”

“I… I wasn’t supposed to say anything until he told you himself,” Cal replied, looking mortified. “And the only reason he hadn’t told you was because he wanted to make sure he had all the details ironed out beforehand. Oh, God, this is embarrassing.”

“More embarrassing than dating Leo Valdez?” Hazel replied, trying to ease Cal’s embarrassment over her slip of the tongue. 

The teasing, it seemed, worked. Full of fondness, Cal replied, “Nothing is more embarrassing than that. I guess I should be thanking him for refusing to ask officially.”

“When’s your next date with Frank?” Annabeth asked Hazel, and she noticed Cal shoot her a thankful look for changing the subject.

As Hazel went into an explanation of her plans with Frank – which had been altered that morning to accommodate the party on Friday to celebrate Piper’s job offer – Annabeth found herself watching Cal. The more time she spent with the other woman, the more she actually liked Cal. It was a good thing, she knew, especially because of whatever was developing between Cal and Leo, but there was also a stupid part of her head that was hung up on the fact that Cal was also someone Percy had liked.

Percy had explained the reason they’d broken up and Annabeth understood it, mostly. Still, she couldn’t help lingering on thoughts of how sweet and gentle Cal was, her timeless beauty, even how great she’d been in the kitchen that morning back in Montauk (and, damn, that had been one hell of a breakfast). Annabeth was none of those things. While she didn’t think of herself ugly the way she had when she was younger, Annabeth didn’t consider herself exceptionally beautiful, and making herself presentable took work. Gentleness didn’t come naturally to her and often times she failed to have it when she needed it most. She couldn’t even slice an onion without making herself bleed. As far as Annabeth was concerned, there had never been two people more opposite than she and Cal.

She did her best to shake the thoughts off. They were stupid and she was being insecure for absolutely no reason. There was nothing to be jealous of. Percy had never given her any reason to doubt herself, and even just that day he’d made it abundantly clear how much he loved her. Annabeth wanted to enjoy the company she was keeping and the rest of the party, not get caught up in feelings that made next to no sense or become irrationally grumpy every time she so much as saw Cal out of the corner of her eye. Her usual appointment with Dr. Brunner had been canceled that week because of the party, but she could talk to him about it next week if the thoughts were still bothering her by then.

That realization struck her as she was indiscriminately stuffing paper plates into a giant black garbage bag. Annabeth wasn’t sure when she started actively flagging feelings to talk over with Dr. Brunner. It was strange to think about, but also a massive relief. For the first time in her life she didn’t need to stew in every negative emotion until she reached a conclusion she thought was logical. Those nasty thoughts could be set aside and come back to later, and she wasn’t stuck with the limits of her own perspective in solving the problems they created.

Not stewing was one of the best decisions she’d ever made, because soon the party returned. Annabeth was able to enjoy watching the mass of kids play a few more games. She got to laugh as they dogpiled on Percy, and then Leo, at Estelle’s behest. She was fully present when Sally pulled her in for family photo time after parents came to pick up Estelle’s friends, heart near bursting. She had enough energy to spare when, as Sally went in to start dinner for all the adults who were staying into the evening, Estelle insisted on opening up Annabeth’s gift and building their first fort from the castle shaped cardboard and foam contents.

Most of all, after Estelle was down for the night, when everyone assembled in the living room to debrief after the wild day they’d just had, there was no sign of negativity in her mind as she curled up next to Percy on the couch. Of all the things Percy had done for and given her in the two months they’d been together, she considered this the greatest. There was still a lot of work for her to do, but Percy had freed her in a way she didn’t even know it was possible to be freed simply by convincing her to talk instead of stewing.


	74. Chapter 74

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter contains explicit content.

They were supposed to be at Piper’s congratulations celebration. Technically they were, but only in the vaguest of terms – both of them remained, after all, in the same building as the large group that had convened at Club Jupiter that night in Piper’s honor, drinking their fill courtesy of Thalia. The group was out in the midst of the club, though, and Jason and Piper were instead safely behind the closed and locked door of Thalia’s office.

The lights were off, the pounding bass of the DJ’s set dampened by the walls that separated them from the rest of the club. Jason’s mouth tasted like champagne and beer. His hands were hot on Piper’s thighs, fingers digging into her skin. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, half for support and half to pull him as close to her as possible. He had her precariously seated on the edge of Thalia’s desk, most of its contents already spilled, paperwork scattered on the floor, the landline phone hanging off the hook.

Sneaking back had been Jason’s idea, but Piper had to take some responsibility for the completely irresponsible decision. 

She had chosen to wear, for the first time, the turquoise dress he’d purchased for her months before very purposefully. She’d paired it with her favorite black, thigh high boots knowing full well how crazy they drove him. She had also been sliding her hand against his thigh at every opportunity since the moment they’d sat down with their friends in the large, second story balcony booth Thalia had so kindly reserved just for their party.

Jason, though, had been up to plenty of mischief of his own.

He’d arrived at the apartment to meet Piper, Annabeth and Percy looking like the sexiest man alive, seemingly carefree and smiling, and wearing his glasses as if specifically to taunt her. He’d chosen to dress casually, in an especially snug fitting pair of jeans Piper had gifted him, a low cut v-neck shirt that showed off more of his chest than was good for her health, and a relaxed fit blazer that sat on his shoulders just right to accentuate how wide they were. He’d then taken every opportunity to lean in and speak directly into her ear over the music, each time his lips purposefully brushing against the sensitive spot where her ear met her jaw.

After weeks of anxiety and stress weighing them down, they were ready to let loose. When Jason had kissed her on the sidewalk after their lunch with his father, something had finally reignited in both of them. They’d barely been able to keep their hands off each other long enough to go to classes and focus on homework, and even then they’d both skipped their last classes on Thursday – something Jason _never_ did – just for the sake of jumping each other that much sooner. Considering all that, it was a miracle they’d managed to hold off as long as they did for the sake of their friends.

“Pipes,” Jason said against her lips, voice so raw it sent shivers down her spine, his hands pushing her dress up around her hips, “I think you forgot your underwear.”

His astute observation was met with a throaty laugh as she nipped at his bottom lip. “No, I didn’t.”

A groan was his only response as he crushed her lips with his own for a few more seconds, but then he was dropping to his knees between her thighs and pulling her leg over his shoulder. One hand rested on his head, her fingers tangling in his hair for something to hold on to – he’d let it grow a little longer than usual over the last few weeks, and for the first time she could actually get a proper grip on it. Her other hand fell behind her to the desk for additional support, Piper giving no care to the cup of pens she tipped over in the process.

Considering the noise in the rest of the club, there was no particular need to be quiet, but Piper still dug her teeth into her bottom lip to suppress the urge to moan as she ground her hips against Jason’s face. He was teasing her, his lips brushing against her exposed thighs, his tongue sliding through her, but never lingering for more than a few seconds and not giving her the obvious relief of stimulation she was quickly growing desperate for. “Jason, please,” she whined, tugging on his hair and lifting her hips to align his mouth where she wanted it.

“Not yet,” he spoke against her in a low rumble, and instead slipped two fingers inside her.

That was, at least, a little better. His fingers were deliberate in the way they twisted within her, but kept an infuriatingly slow pace. While those fingers tortured her in the sweetest way possible, his other hand pushed her dress up farther and his mouth trailed up the flat expanse of her stomach, making her breath hitch and her muscles tense. He smiled against her skin as he tickled her with lips and tongue alike, enjoying himself far more than he had any right to considering how torturous it was for her. 

It felt like he teased her forever, pleasure pooling endlessly in the pit of her stomach but never coming to a boil. Whimpering, whining, trembling with need, Piper forgot to be worried about making noise when finally he gave in and his tongue found her clit. From there he was rough and relentless, all the pressure he’d built up inside her taking no time to explode and push her over the metaphorical ledge into orgasm. The fact she didn’t pull a chunk of his hair out as she came was nothing short of a miracle.

“Why the fuck are you so good at that?” she complained breathlessly, as he rose back to his feet to kiss her again. They both groaned into it, Jason’s tongue slipping into her mouth and giving her a full, proper taste of herself.

When he pulled away, he wore a cocky grin. “I had a good teacher,” he told her. That self-satisfied, confident Jason was Piper’s and Piper’s alone. He was never so pleased with himself in front of other people and she was greedy enough that she liked having that side of him to herself, hoped to keep him to herself forever.

“I think the student has surpassed the master,” Piper replied playfully, and then they were both reaching for the button and zipper of his jeans. With his erection free and his jeans around his ankles, Piper reached into the pockets of his blazer, confident she’d find what she was looking for there. His smile grew when she pulled out a condom and held it up. “I see you came prepared, Mr. Grace.”

“Well, Miss McLean, I’m very proud of all you’ve accomplished and wanted to show you exactly how much,” he said, watching with lust filled eyes as Piper carefully ripped the small packet open and reached down to roll the condom on him.

Jason locked eyes with Piper and pulled her off the edge of the desk. For a split second she was confused, but then his hands moved confidently to turn her around and she found herself feeling absolutely giddy with delight. He mouthed along her bare shoulder as he leaned her over the desk, but straightened and gazed at her once he had her where he wanted her.

“Like what you see?” she asked, her breathing heavy and uneven, aching both from the ghost of her orgasm and with renewed anticipation.

“Love what I see,” he practically growled, his fingers brushing gingerly over her tattoo and inspiring a sharp intake of breath, his erection teasing against her thigh.

As he pressed inside her, she let out a pleased sigh, her hands curling into fists. Jason’s fingers dug into her hips and he moaned with the relief she was sure he also felt, then he was moving. His pace was just as torturous as his early teasing had been. Piper didn’t understand how he could tolerate it, when she was so desperate for him to let go and ride her hard and fast. She would try pushing back against him, but her attempts were met with resistance, even shallower thrusts. Only when Piper pleaded for him to go _harder, faster_ did his pace pick up, and then just barely, so before long she’d have to ask again. Her voice was a pitiful whine and the knot in her stomach only tightened every time his thrusting intensified. He was doing it on purpose, teasing her, and she loved every second of it.

Jason’s breathing becoming ragged was the only sign she had he was losing control from her position. Usually she could see it in his eyes, the moment something in him snapped and he couldn’t resist his own desire anymore, and she’d be prepared for the relentless need that would follow. The tension of not knowing made every movement of his hips that much more thrilling, and when finally his hands tightened their hold, he hit her deep and rough. All of her earlier reservations about making noise were gone, and Piper moaned loudly to let him know just how good it felt. A few more of those forceful thrusts and her legs were shaking, her arms reaching for the opposite edge of the desk so she had something to grip while another orgasm struck her, not quite as powerful as the first, but deeper and longer lasting.

With a low, strangled groan and a few erratic thrusts, he followed only seconds later. His fingers gripped her hips hard. When he was finished, he bent forward to lay his forehead against her while they both caught their breath, each of his hot exhales making the skin exposed by her dress’s open back feel like it might actually catch fire. It was an entirely uncomfortable position, but Piper had no desire to move.

“Your glasses are fogged up,” she said with a laugh, when finally they’d pulled apart and she’d turned back around to look at him. It was so adorable it set a swarm of butterflies loose in her stomach, and then she was kissing him again, though with much less intensity and much more innocent affection. Both of them smiled into it. His arms wound around her and pulled her close all the same. His heated and solid body was a relaxing force as she continued to come down from her high.

There was a lot of cleaning up to be done, both of their own bodies and Thalia’s poor office. Jason did most of it, insisting Piper take a seat on the office chair, since it was her special day. She had to admit it made her feel powerful, sitting with her legs crossed as he scurried around picking up papers at her feet and rearranged the desk as best he could from memory.

“When you have your own office, we should do this again,” she told him, her foot bouncing in the air and her eyes lingering on the curve of his ass as he was bent over trying to sort through some papers.

He was wearing a smile when he straightened back up and looked at her. “That would be highly inappropriate, Miss McLean.”

“And that’s exactly why we should do it,” she replied with a shrug. “Often.”

“What would my staff think?” Jason asked in feigned dismay, setting the last stack of papers down and leaning himself on the side of the desk.

“I’m sure they’d all be very jealous of me, but they’d get over it soon enough,” she told him, proud of herself for finding some small way to bring up Jason’s future that didn’t instantly make him look hopeless. Potential office sex seemed to be a silver lining, and she’d make sure to remember it.

Jason pursed his lips and tilted his head. “I think I’m the one they’d be jealous of.”

“Please,” Piper said with a laugh, “you’re going to be the hottest boss in the history of bosses. Everyone in your office is going to wish they could fuck you, and be sorely disappointed to discover you’re all mine.”

“I can’t deny I’m all yours,” he said, a soft smile pulling at his lips. 

Piper got to her feet, slipping her arms around Jason’s waist and settling herself against him. “Thank you for tonight,” she told him softly, having faith he’d understand she meant the whole night, not just their interlude there in Thalia’s office.

He brought his hands up to her face, cupping it between them. “I really am so proud of you and I can’t wait to see everything you’re going to do.”

“I’m going to be getting coffee and juggling schedules and proof reading press briefings,” Piper objected, feeling her face warming in response to the praise. Getting the job was something worth celebrating, she did believe that, but it was a foot in the door, barely more impressive than an internship.

“Not for long,” Jason replied. “You’re going to take that place by storm.”

Her mind failed to come up with a proper response, turned to mush by the way he gazed down at her, eyes shining even in the darkened office. Piper pushed up as much as she could and Jason leaned down to meet her, their kiss slow and sweet, a gentle expression of love and admiration. The mush she’d been turned to became molten, seeping into her entire being and leaving her toasty warm all the way down to her bones. When she pulled way, Jason was smiling, and she hoped he felt exactly the same.

Reaching around his back, Jason grabbed Piper’s hand and pulled a step away, toward the door. “Let’s get you back to your party before everyone figures out where we were.”

Momentarily, Piper considered saying she hoped everyone did figure out where they were, but decided to spare him the potential embarrassment. Instead she took his hand and let him lead her back out into the club. The natural heat produced by the number of bodies in the building and the excuse they’d made about heading down to the crowded dance floor would probably cover well enough for their sweaty appearances and general lengthy disappearance. Hopefully Jason would be spared the worst of his embarrassment, considering all their closest friends were present that evening.

That hope was shattered when Piper plopped down onto a couch next to Annabeth and was immediately asked, words a little slurred, “Just couldn’t wait until you got home, huh?” Annabeth, it would seem, was already drunk.

Jason had moved out of earshot, going across the booth to where it looked like Leo, Percy and Will were playing a game of quarters with shots. Frank was sitting with them, watching as he sipped from a beer and laughing every time a quarter was flipped and failed to make its mark. Hazel was leaned on his shoulder, eyes shining with amusement even though not long before she’d been grumpy about not being able to drink herself – Thalia had begrudgingly let Hazel in with the promise she wouldn’t even look too long at any alcohol.

The only person missing was Nico, who unfortunately had a wedding to play that night, but even he had made an effort to congratulate Piper in a very sweet, but formal text message that afternoon. Jason had joked about him making up the wedding to get out of clubbing. When Nico had glared at Jason in response, Piper had only kind of wondered if maybe Jason had hit the nail right on the head. She didn’t blame him if he did. Picturing Nico at Club Jupiter was near impossible, and she wouldn’t want him to be miserable for her sake. The thought was what counted, anyway.

Cal was seated next to Annabeth, both of them also watching the game with matching expressions of apprehension, like they knew it was only going to end in suffering for them. The two had bonded a little during Cal’s week in the city, though Piper knew Annabeth still felt awkward and, though she hadn’t admitted it out loud, jealous to some degree. One night that week they’d even had a triple date of sorts with all three residents of the brownstone, a meal that had been spoken about at length by both Annabeth and Percy afterward. Piper was sure with time it would become easier, and she admired Annabeth for the effort she was putting into that relationship.

Piper was also childishly, selfishly thankful she didn’t have to worry about being jealous over any of Jason’s exes, since he had none.

“No, we could not wait,” Piper replied with a smile, signaling for the waitress who had been diligently providing their group a steady supply of drinks all night. “Should I have Jason pass the key to Thalia’s office to Percy for you?”

“Only if you want to die before you get to start your cool new job,” Annabeth replied, reaching up to give Piper’s cheek a playful pinch. 

From across the booth a cheer went up, Will raising his hands in triumph and then pointing to Jason, who had apparently joined the game and was being forced to take a shot. The other guys laughed and teased him as his face contorted with distaste, even Frank getting in on the ribbing despite being nothing more than an observer himself. Annabeth hooked her arm under Piper’s, snuggling in beside her. Piper knew it would probably only be one or two more drinks before her best friend started to get emotional, though the last few times Annabeth had been drunk she’d been a lot less sad-weepy and a lot more happy-weepy, and that was a much more fun weepiness to be around.

“I’m really happy,” Piper said softly, not even sure she could be heard over the music despite Annabeth’s head being on her shoulder.

Apparently it was just loud enough, because Annabeth replied, “Me too,” with a little sigh. Piper had underestimated how drunk Annabeth was, because that was when the waterworks started.

Piper wrapped her arms around Annabeth, consoling her best friend on her immense happiness while rolling her eyes at a very amused, and thankfully still sober, Cal next to them. Jason smiled at her as he was forced to take another shot – this time by Percy. The music was loud. Their laughter was louder. It was a strange group, with Hazel banned from drinking and not technically even supposed to be in the club, Thalia and Reyna coming and going occasionally as they avoided Percy as best as possible while still being there to celebrate, Will meeting half the group for the first time and still fitting in just fine, and Cal still trying to find her place among them. It was also a perfect group, a group that Piper loved, and they were all there for her, because they loved her too.


	75. Chapter 75

Annabeth’s mother lived in New Jersey.

Having only lived in New York for about four years herself, it seemed silly for Annabeth to be judgmental about this, but she was. Percy was even more so, looking around the spacious living room like it was the most personally insulting thing he’d ever seen, even though the house itself was beautiful enough – a large, picturesque, colonial two story, with a wrap around porch, beautiful brickwork and a well manicured lawn – even if one Annabeth’s least favorite architectural styles. The look on Percy’s face, the slight curl of his upper lip and the curve of his eyebrows, almost made Annabeth forget why they were there that evening.

Athena sat on a couch across from them, leaned back comfortably while Percy and Annabeth sat stiffly on the edge of their love seat. Cups of tea were arranged in front of each of them on the coffee table, steaming, but untouched. Annabeth knew Percy didn’t like or drink tea, and barely even drank coffee without copious amounts of sugar, milk and flavoring, but he’d accepted it just the same to be polite. Annabeth hadn’t touched hers because her stomach was tied in nervous knots and the last thing she wanted was to risk putting anything in it.

This visit with her mother hadn’t been entirely Dr. Brunner’s idea. Annabeth had been the one to suggest it first, and he’d encouraged the idea, even seemed a little impressed she’d come up with it herself. There were several things Annabeth still felt bitter toward her mother about, things she knew stood in the way of them having any kind of relationship, but the greatest of all was the story of Luke. In a small way, she blamed her mother for not being there to stop it, almost as much as she blamed her father for not stopping it even though he _had been_ there.

Fredrick and Athena had been the people who brought Annabeth into the world and they had failed miserably to protect her. Annabeth’s father had clearly not been apologetic for his failure, but even a small amount of comfort from Athena might go a long way to healing the rift between them, and to mending the still broken pieces of Annabeth’s heart. After years of having no one, Annabeth wanted a parent to comfort her, to take even some minimal amount of responsibility. Until Annabeth was honest with Athena, gave her a chance to offer that comfort, it wasn’t fair for Annabeth to blame her for not doing it.

“How did you find out Dad had cut me off?” Annabeth asked, deciding to jump right into the thick of it.

Shifting a little in her seat, made uncomfortable by the question, Athena considered her answer shortly. “I’ve kept in contact with your aunt, Natalie, over the years. I met her while I was dating your father and we always got along well.”

“Aunt Natalie knew?” Annabeth asked, only one of the many questions that single answer created. “Dad hasn’t spoken to her in years, not since Grandma and Grandpa died. I must have been six or seven the last time I saw her.”

“She and your step-mother have stayed in touch. Victoria is friends with one of the accountants in the financial office and when we heard about the issues with your tuition, I called Natalie,” Athena explained, though again her explanation only brought more questions to Annabeth’s mind. He must have sensed her frustration, because Percy reached out and took Annabeth’s hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “Apparently your step-mother had called to warn her you might come begging for something from the family coffers.”

Not once had Annabeth even considered reaching out to her extended family for money. The Chase family were not the kind of unfathomable, old money rich that the Graces were, but they had been influential in Boston for generations and had plenty of money. Fredrick Chase had made a name for himself as an author, built his own fortune, but he’d been a trust fund kid and would have lived comfortably either way. Technically, Annabeth probably _could_ make some kind of claim on the Chase resources, and maybe she even should try, but until that moment the thought had never crossed her mind.

Holding on to Percy and taking a deep breath to steel herself, putting those thoughts aside for another day, Annabeth asked, “Did she tell you _why_ he cut me off?"

“No,” Athena replied, her nose wrinkling. Unwittingly, Annabeth smiled at the sight of it, knowing she’d worn the same expression herself often when talking about Fredrick Chase. The more time she spent with Athena, the more Annabeth realized they looked almost identical, save for the difference in age and the colors of their hair. “It didn’t matter to me why. I know your father well enough to be confident it was a stupid, petty reason.”

“Well, it wasn’t exactly fair to me, to say the least,” Annabeth agreed, her stomach rolling at the memory of that Saturday afternoon she’d exploded in front of her family and the reporter who was there to interview Fredrick. “That’s actually… why I asked to come over tonight. I wanted to tell you what happened.”

With a shaky breath, Annabeth began her story. She started with the way she’d always felt like a second rate citizen in her own home, being carted off to boarding school in sixth grade, how Fredrick had always seemed excited to get rid of her yet again over the summers when she went to Piper’s. The words were practiced, mostly in Annabeth’s mind, but once out loud to Piper the evening before so she could work out exactly what she wanted to say and how to say it. Annabeth put it all on the table, all her years of inadequacy and neglect. Athena thought Annabeth had been happy in her home, but that wasn’t true, and she needed to be honest about it all.

It had become a little easier to talk about Luke since the first time she’d struggled to skirt around the details with Percy three months before. She didn’t feel as nauseous as she had when she had finally told the details to Piper, didn’t feel quite as ashamed as when she’d told Jason, or as embarrassed about the topic of sex as she had been when she’d told Dr. Brunner in their second session. Those first times she’d been afraid the people she cared about would think less of her, but she’d begun to truly accept she wasn’t the one who had done anything wrong. Anyone who would think less of her for it wasn’t someone she wanted in her life, anyway.

Percy held Annabeth’s hand tight, and as comforting as his touch was, she wished he could put his arms around her completely, let her disappear into them. When she looked at him, his jaw was set, his shoulders tense, and he stared at the floor with brooding eyes. Hearing the story was still difficult for him, and yet he’d signed up to come along with her that evening and hear it in detail just so Annabeth would have someone to hold her hand through it.

For a few minutes after Annabeth finished Athena remained silent, her eyes focused on her teacup in front of her. The silence wasn’t entirely unexpected. It was a lot to process, even for Annabeth each time she recounted the events of that summer she turned eighteen, let alone the story of her life before. Annabeth understood someone hearing it for the first time needing a few minutes to think, and she took advantage of the time to find her own peace again in Percy. He’d been the first person to know what she’d been through and he’d found her more worthy of his love for it, not just in spite of it.

“When you said you needed to stay away from San Francisco, this was why?” Athena finally asked, her eyes falling back on Annabeth for the first time since Annabeth had started telling the story.

“He and Dad have always been close,” Annabeth confirmed, nodding. “Based on the way Dad reacted, I’d guess they still are, but I haven’t heard anything about what’s happened since.”

“ _That_ was what he cut you off for,” Athena said, quietly, almost like she didn’t really mean for Annabeth to hear. Her hands curled into fists in her lap, knuckles turning white, and even those controlled displays of anger were surprisingly reassuring. This was the way a parent was supposed to react.

“I think it was more the outburst itself,” Annabeth told her, remembering how angry her father had been that afternoon. “I’m sure he found the whole thing embarrassing, but probably he would have swept it under the rug and gone back to business as usual in the name of keeping up the family image if I hadn’t made a scene.”

He hadn’t spoken more than mumbled greetings or thanks for the tea since they’d arrived, but Percy chose that moment to finally speak. “Kinda wish I’d been there to see that, though. A scene was what they deserved.”

“What happened with the journalist, with the article?” Athena asked, her brow furrowed and her eyes the same storm clouds Annabeth’s own often became.

“I’m not sure,” Annabeth answered with a little sigh. “My guess is Dad’s publisher pulled the plug on the article and buried it all. I’ve checked the magazine’s website a few times since then and not seen anything about it. His next book is coming out in a few weeks and they just released a bunch of still from the set of the show filming. All the media coverage has been positive.”

Like Annabeth, Athena didn’t seem very reassured by that fact. Several times over the months Annabeth had worried she might see an article pop up detailing what had happened, what she’d admitted that afternoon. Sometimes she even had a sickening thought it might be twisted in a way to make her father and Luke look like the victims, though she wasn’t sure how anyone in their right mind would be able to spin it that way. The more time passed, though, the more at ease she felt. If something were to happen, it probably would have happened already.

“There was something I wanted to ask you, though,” Annabeth added after a few seconds, her eyes flickering to Percy in search of support. He gave her a subtle nod, already knowing all Annabeth had planned on saying that evening.

Athena took a deep breath and nodded as well, more obviously. “I’ll answer as best I can.”

It was the question Annabeth had asked herself every day for as long as she could remember, one that had haunted her, made her heart ache some days and rage course through her veins on others. Without an honest answer to it, she wasn’t sure what relationship she and Athena could have. 

“Why did you leave?”

Sadness darkened Athena’s expression and she hung her head. “I met your father while we were both working on our doctorates. We were in different departments, but our areas of study overlapped. You know how charming he can be when he wants to, I’m sure, and for a long time all I saw was that charm. I thought he saw me as an equal, but when you happened I realized I was wrong. He started talking about how I’d need to take time off school after you were born, and then about how I didn’t even need to work at all, he had plenty of money to support all of us and I should stay home to raise you.

“That wasn’t a life I wanted, but it was the only life he seemed willing to accept,” Athena continued, her gaze becoming distant. “When I told him I thought it would better if we broke up and raised you separately, he didn’t take it well. Eventually he asked me to just give him full custody, said I didn’t need to be involved at all. I’ll be honest, and I’m sorry to say it, but I had never wanted children, so I agreed. At the time I thought he just meant that I’d send him support and see you occasionally, not that I wouldn’t be able to be part of your life at all. By the time I realized his intentions, I’d already waived my rights and there was nothing I could do.”

Some part of Annabeth had hoped the story would be one of Fredrick’s villainy and Athena simply his victim. In some ways that kind of was the case – he’d tried to control Athena and force her into a life she didn’t want, to suit his own vision of a family, and taken from her any opportunity to know Annabeth at all, despite her apparently wanting to be able to, at least a little. His behavior hadn’t been the only factor, though. Athena simply hadn’t wanted a child. She’d been willing to give Annabeth up and didn’t bother to fight it once she’d realized Annabeth was lost to her. That was going to be a bitter pill to swallow.

“Thank you,” Annabeth said softly and glanced at Percy. “I think we should head out, then. That was all I really wanted to talk about tonight.”

“Before you do, there’s something I want to give you,” Athena said, swiftly rising to her feet and walking across the room, not giving Annabeth a chance to object. She opened a cabinet and pulled out a small box before returning to the couch. Without another word, she set the box on the table and pushed it toward Annabeth.

Hand shaking, Annabeth reached out and took the box. It was small and light, a hinge on the back like the boxes jewelry came in. That observation was right on the mark, because Annabeth flipped open the lid and discovered a silver locket laid carefully in the center. The face of the locket was carved with an owl, identical to the earrings Annabeth had kept since she was little.

“I’m not sure if your father ever gave you the earrings I left for you,” Athena said, her voice still quiet, soft as the velvet covering the necklace’s box.

“He didn’t,” Annabeth replied, her fingers brushing against the carving, the metal cold to the touch. Her own voice was also soft, distant, as she continued the story, “I found them when I was six and we were moving, right before the twins were born. He got angry and tried to take them from me, but I hid them under a floorboard in my new room. When I wanted to get my ears pierced a few years later, he told me I couldn’t unless I gave them to him, so I gave up. 

“I took them with me when I left for my first year of boarding school,” she continued, still tracing the shape of the locket with her fingers. “I still couldn’t wear them, but I was scared he would find them and take them. Even at school I kept them hidden away, but in the fall of seventh grade Piper saw them and asked me about them. Like a couple of idiots I let her pierce my ears herself with a needle and some ice, just so I could finally wear them.

“My right ear got infected,” Annabeth recalled with a laugh, a memory so old it barely crossed her mind anymore, one of countless ridiculous anecdotes from the years she’d spent at school with Piper. “I had to take antibiotics for a week and then missed class the whole time because of how sick they made me. Afterward they gave me detention for a whole month, but it was worth it. I wore them the day I went home that summer. Part of me is still surprised Dad didn’t rip them right out of my ears himself.”

When she glanced up, it wasn’t to look at her mother. Annabeth looked at Percy, a small smile playing at her lips. From the matching smile Percy wore, she knew he remembered those very earrings. She’d worn them at Tristan McLean’s wedding, the day they’d first had sex. She’d put them on because they’d always made her feel stronger and she’d thought she needed extra strength to get Piper through. In the end they’d given her a little unexpected courage, too. That, of course, was not anything Athena needed to know.

“They’re a family heirloom, belonged to my grandmother,” Athena said, drawing Annabeth’s attention back to her. “Like I said, when I left I asked Fredrick to give you the earrings, but I wasn’t ready to part with that locket, not when I wasn’t sure he would give it to you. I want you to have it now, though.”

“Why now?” Annabeth asked, finally daring to pick the locket up. Despite its small size, it was heavy.

“Victoria and I don’t want children. Like I said, I never did, and when we got married that was something we agreed about,” Athena answered, then after a pause added, “And I want you to have it now in case you don’t feel like seeing me again.”

Carefully, as if it might break, Annabeth opened the locket. Inside was a tiny music box that immediately began to play a sweet, somewhat melancholy melody Annabeth couldn’t name, but that sounded familiar. She let the music play through twice, a lump forming in her throat and her heart aching. Just as gingerly as she had opened it, Annabeth clicked the locket closed, then set it back on it’s bed of black velvet and tucked the box carefully into her purse.

“I’ll feel like seeing you again,” Annabeth told Athena, her voice shaky as she fought back tears. While she was certain of that, at least, she wasn’t ready to cry in front of Athena. Percy placed his hand on her back, rubbing small circles that helped Annabeth’s breathing stay even and kept her mind from running rampant.

They said awkward goodbyes, but at the door Annabeth stopped. It was more forced and stiff than would have been ideal, but for the first time in her life she hugged her mother. She was surprised by how much it meant to her. Another piece of the incomplete Annabeth Chase puzzle seemed to settle into place with just that simple show of physical affection. A hug from her mother was something Annabeth had been hoping for her entire life, as painful and imperfect as it ended up being in practice.

Out at the car, before even getting inside, Annabeth lost what little control she’d had over her emotions. As soon as the tears began to flow, Percy’s arms were around her. She buried her face in his chest and slipped her arms back around him, her fingers curling into his shirt. There were no whispered assurances that it was alright or that she was okay. It wasn’t alright and she wasn’t okay, but his presence and the way he pressed his lips against the crown of her head made it all a little less terrible.

What her mother thought about the two of them standing in her driveway, if she noticed, Annabeth didn’t know. It had been clear from disapproving glances even over their short conversation that Athena still didn’t care much for Percy. Annabeth hoped that might change with time, especially if they managed to start building some kind of relationship, but it didn’t matter too much. No matter what Athena thought of him, Annabeth had no doubts about the fact that Percy was the best man she’d ever known.

“I’m proud of you,” Percy said, his voice warm and soothing, when she finally pulled back. He brought a hand up and carefully brushed under her eyes with a knuckle.

Annabeth laughed, sniffling unattractively and not caring one bit. “What is there to be proud of?”

“Everything,” he replied without hesitation. “Beth, you’ve faced the last few months with way more courage than I ever could have. Most people wouldn’t even have been able to have that conversation you just had with your mom, but you were amazing in there.”

“Why do you have to be so great at making me feel good about myself?” she asked, falling back on the age old crutch of teasing instead of acknowledging what was actually being said – except, she realized, she was acknowledging it a little, indirectly. He’d made her feel good and she’d at least been able to admit it. That was a tiny bit of progress.

“It’s in the boyfriend job description,” he told her, matching her lightened tone.

“You bring this job description up pretty often, but I’ve never seen it,” she said, pulling herself a little closer, still not caring they remained in her mother’s driveway.

Percy hummed softly, his chest rumbling more than there was any audible sound. “Do you need me to get you a copy? Are you unsatisfied with my performance? I can get you a complaint form, too.”

That was just about the most ridiculous thing he’d ever said and she stepped back to give him a light shove that did absolutely nothing to move him. “I do have a few complaints, yes,” she teased, her hand dropping to slip into the pocket of his jeans and fishing out his keys. She dangled them in front of him, his eyebrows raised. “For instance, you don’t let me drive enough.”

“By all means,” he told her, stretching his arm out to signal for her to take the driver’s seat. When she stepped away to unlock the door, though, he called, “Hey, Beth?”

“Hmm?” she asked, stopping with the door open to look back at him still leaned against Bessie.

“I meant it,” he said, the lightheartedness gone from his voice, left with nothing but sincerity and love. “I’m proud of you, and I love you.”

“Thank you,” Annabeth replied, struggling to accept his praise but unable to deny it when he was being so genuine. There really didn’t seem like anything to be proud of, but she knew Percy felt it just the same, and his pride in her meant more than her own ever would. “And I love you, too.”


	76. Chapter 76

“I take it you’re not feeling well?” Jason asked, almost as soon as Piper arrived at his apartment and collapsed on his bed early Saturday afternoon.

Piper groaned into his comforter, letting her response be muffled in favor of staying comfortably still. “That stupid, pompous asshole who’s been making my entire semester hell didn’t even finish his research for our final presentation and now the whole group is behind. I’m going to have to spend most of tomorrow finishing what he didn’t.”

All things considered, the difficult conversation she knew Annabeth had with her mother the night before, Jason’s continued struggle coming to terms with his future and facing his father, Piper’s issue was minuscule. She felt stupid for being so upset about it, selfish for even having the gall to complain about it. A single day of extra work was nothing. It just made her _mad_ , and maybe being mad at some jerk at school over homework was more fulfilling than her existential anger at the universe for the shit it was putting the people she loved through.

At least this was something she would be able to fix, even if it put her out.

As she lay there, face still buried in comforter, Piper felt Jason set his books and laptop aside and adjust to lay next to her. His presence warmed her, reassuring as always, and he brought a hand up to rub her back gently. “Well, are you up to having some fun tonight? We can get your mind off it for now and you can deal with the work tomorrow,” he suggested softly.

“Maybe later. I’m too grumpy to be in the mood right now,” she told him, though she rolled over and pressed herself against him instead of staying hidden face down.

Jason laughed softly, the sound rumbling in his chest and going a long way to soothe her sour mood. “Wasn’t talking about sex, Pipes. I meant going out and doing something.”

“Out?” she asked, a smile spreading across her face as she nuzzled closer to him – it made her surprisingly giddy, that he had not only not been trying to get her pants off, but had apparently already picked up on her unsexy mood and been thinking of other ways to make her feel better. “What did you have in mind?”

“It’s cheesy,” he replied, his voice a little hesitant, as if he were worried Piper might laugh, “and very cliché, but it’s something I always imagined doing once I had a girlfriend.”

Already she was becoming excited. Cheesy and cliché had never been Piper’s cup of tea, not until Jason Grace. Now she often felt like they were all she ever wanted, just one, big, cheesy and cliché life. “Go on.”

“I’ve always wanted to rent one of those rowboats at Central Park,” he said, saying the words quickly, like they hurt to get out. Piper did laugh, but not at the idea. He was too cute not to laugh at.

Tilting her head up, she pressed a kiss to his chin. “I love that idea. Let’s go.”

They still had a few good hours of sunlight left, but didn’t want to waste a second of it, so as soon as she’d said the words Jason was pulling her to her feet and they were heading out. She clung to him, greedy for the feeling of his arms around her even once they were out in the world. The Grace tower was close enough to Central Park that they were able to walk. The day was cool, especially for the last Saturday in April, but the sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, which meant they were probably going to have a beautiful view out on the lake.

Once they got their boat Jason had to coax Piper into it. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting when they were called _rowboats_ , but a simple wooden dinghy wasn’t really it and the thing looked awfully likely to tip over the second she set foot in it. She didn’t know what the lake in Central Park was like, but she’d heard plenty of stories about the pollution in New York City water bodies and didn’t want to end up growing a third eye. Jason got her into it, though, and after she was safely seated on a bench across from him it seemed a little more secure.

It also helped that Jason looked ridiculously hot when he started rowing, his biceps and chest flexing under his short sleeved button up as he got their boat going at a comfortable pace on the water. Sun caught his hair, turning it almost white, and his eyes reflected the clear sky above them perfectly. When he looked over at her, caught her staring so plainly at him, a smile spread across his face and his cheeks began to turn pink. That was all she needed to pull out her phone and start snapping pictures of him, requiring more than just the mental image for her memories.

“You’ve seemed happier,” she observed, when they’d made their way deeper into the park and Jason had decided to take a break so they could simply float and enjoy the scenery. The scenery was great – the trees were flush with bright green leaves or flowers blossoming countless shades of pink and white, newly come in that spring, and sun glittered on the lake surface – but the man in front of Piper was significantly more fun to look at than trees or water.

Jason looked at her more than any of the scenery, too, though she wasn’t doing anything nearly as interesting as he had been while rowing. “I guess I am a little happier,” he replied after considering it for a minute. “Maybe not entirely _happier_ , actually, but definitely less hopeless.”

“I’ll take less hopeless,” Piper said with a nod, though she really did wish they could get to happier, instead. “Did anything change?”

“Not anything about the situation,” he said, glancing across the lake, his eyes catching the light and seeming impossibly brighter. “I started thinking about how busy we’re both going to be with our new jobs and almost turned completely miserable again, but then I realized I can make my own hours. I can take you out to lunch, and I won’t have to worry about getting anyone’s permission to go to Rome and watch Percy kick ass in a couple months.”

Those weren’t exactly impressively exciting realizations, Piper unsure whether small things like that would really be enough for him to be even just content with his lot in life, but it was a start. Once they got there, once Jason started his job and learned what was expected of him, maybe more meaningful positives would be discovered. For the time being, these small things were enough to hold on to, and Piper would do her best to reinforce the hope Jason had found.

“A few months ago would you have thought you’d be excited to ditch work just to watch Percy swim?” she asked, her voice teasing, a smile on her face. Piper loved how close the guys had become.

He laughed, shaking his head. “No. I would have thought you were crazy if you told me.”

“When I took my job I told them I’d need those weeks off, too. My boss wasn’t super happy about it, but she agreed to the time off rather than having me start after,” she told him, excitement beginning to take root at the thought of it. They were still a few months off from the Olympics, and Percy hadn’t even qualified yet, but they were all betting on him.

Jason’s eyes continued to sparkle as his gaze returned to her. “We’re going to need to have a bunch of cheesy, cliché dates like this one while we’re there. I already have several ideas.”

“You’ve given me an unfortunate taste for cheesy, cliché dates, Mr. Grace,” she complained, her lips turning down into an exaggerated pout. “Although this one is losing its charm because you’re stuck so far away from me.”

A matching pout formed on Jason’s lips, just as exaggerated and, she figured, even more ridiculous looking. “Shall I start us heading back then, Miss McLean?”

“Yes, please.”

This time as Jason rowed, the sky starting to catch fire from the setting sun, Piper pulled out her phone and documented it on video. Every few seconds he glanced at the camera and laughed, embarrassed, shaking his head. He never complained, though, indulging her despite how obviously he thought she was ridiculous. In her opinion there had never in the history of videos been a more perfect recording. Not sharing such a work of art with the world seemed entirely too selfish, but Piper felt no desire to post it to any social media.

When they returned to the dock, Piper made Jason pick her up out of the boat like an absolute baby – partially because as soon as she stood she once again felt like she was about to tip over into the lake, but also just for the sake of feeling those beautifully muscled and strong arms around her. He didn’t complain, so she assumed he was just as glad for the excuse. And, she’d discovered over the months, he liked it when she got whiny.

Neither of them were in the mood to head back to the apartment yet, so they decided to take a walk through the city until they found either something they wanted to do or eat. Nothing was standing out to Piper, but she didn’t mind just wandering aimlessly, her arm hooked around Jason’s. Already the date had been an effective distraction – Piper’s school issue was the furthest thing from her mind, and she could almost forget all the other shit, too.

They hadn’t been walking long before Jason stopped abruptly. Piper hadn’t been paying particularly close attention to where they were, so she had to take stock of their location – a line of businesses filled the block on either side of the street, mostly restaurants, but a few boutiques and salons as well. When finally she followed Jason’s gaze to the storefront he was staring at, all she was left with was confusion.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, staring at the wide front window painted with the words, _Ink Incorporated, est. 2005. Walk-Ins Welcome._ Overhead, an awning simply read, _TATTOO_.

“I’m going to get one,” Jason said, his lopsided grin entirely too sexy to be legal. That sexiness almost made her miss what he’d said.

Piper blinked at him for several seconds, the words refusing to compute. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I’ve always wanted one,” he replied, amusement making his smile widen and even out, and somehow that broader smile was even sexier than the lopsided one. “Thalia has a million. Reyna has a few. Nico has one. _You_ have one. It’s my turn.”

“Nico has one?” That was not an important detail, but in its struggle to process what she was hearing, Piper’s mind stuck on the first thing that stood out.

With a shrug, Jason tugged her forward, toward the tattoo parlor’s door. “On his back. I’ve only seen pictures of it.”

The sign had said the shop was established in 2005, but the interior looked like it hadn’t changed since several decades before that. The patterned linoleum in the entrance was an awful shade of puke green, stopping at the reception desk to make way for solid wood. The walls were painted brown, covered in framed displays of tattoo designs for unprepared customers who’d walked in spontaneously, just like Piper and Jason. The air was scented with incense, potent and borderline overpowering.

To be fair, it had been from one of those very same generic displays that Piper picked her own tattoo. She had not gone into that night planning to get a minion king of England tattooed on her ass, it had just sounded like a _great_ idea when she was borderline blackout drunk and looking over the options her tattoo artist presented her. Annabeth not even trying to stop her was a testament to how drunk they had both been that night. It was a miracle (or a massive shame) they hadn’t woken up the next morning with matching minion ass tats.

In complete awe, still not sure she hadn’t crossed over into some parallel dimension, Piper watched as Jason was greeted by a burly man with a full black beard and exchanged greetings before delving into the details of how he might leave that afternoon with a tattoo. Not five minutes later, she and Jason were perusing the displays for inspiration. Well, he was perusing. She was staring at him like it was the first time she’d ever laid eyes on him.

“Are you sure about this?” she finally asked, following his gaze to the framed set of horse designs he was considering. Piper loved him, and she would support him no matter what he chose, but she really hoped he didn’t get a horse tattoo, no matter how hypocritical it was of her.

Jason slipped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her in to settle against his side, and nodded. “I’ve had a few chances before and I always chickened out.”

“Changing your mind isn’t chickening out,” Piper replied, slipping her arms around his waist and deciding it was time for her to start actually looking at his options to help.

“It wasn’t changing my mind,” he said, lips pursing in thought, though whether over the images they were scanning or the memories of his last opportunities to get inked, Piper wasn’t sure. “I’d get stuck in my head wondering what other people would think, what they would say, how they would react. I’d remember the way people started whispering about Thalia after her first tattoo and start thinking about how they’d whisper about me, too. Backing out was never about what I wanted, it was about what everyone else wanted.”

Imagining that required no stretch of the mind, but Piper wondered how many other things Jason might not have done over the years because of what someone might think, even though he’d wanted to. Every major decision in his life had been made by his father, but even these small, personal things were tainted by the expectations of others. Even the boat ride out on the lake, Jason had hesitated to tell her what he’d wanted to do because she might think it was silly or lame.

“Well,” Piper finally said, holding Jason a little closer, “what did you want to get those other times?”

At that question, he shook his head and sighed. “It’s stupid.”

“Then I’ll laugh,” she teased, trying her best to encourage him. What she thought shouldn’t matter, even if what he wanted was a horse tattoo. “Jason, nothing could be stupider than my tattoo. Get what will make you happy.”

“I like your tattoo,” he objected, leaning back so her could look at her with a disapproving frown, as if she’d insulted him personally by calling her own tattoo stupid.

“I like it, too,” she assured him, pushing up on her toes to press a kiss to his jaw in thanks for his appreciation of King Bob – not many people she’d dated since had felt the same. A second later he leaned in for a quick peck on the lips, and then he was smiling. “I like it _because_ it’s stupid. It makes me happy and, even just for the story alone, I don’t think I’ll ever regret it. You’re putting something on _your_ body, so the only thing that matters is what _you_ want.”

Jason smiled down at her for several more seconds and she finally had to tilt her head down to hide from the warmth radiating off him against his side. “You’re a very wise woman, Piper McLean,” he finally said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

“So, what are you getting?” she asked, once again beginning to scan the countless examples displayed on the wall in front of them.

“An eagle,” he told her, newfound confidence in his voice. “A silhouette of one in flight.”

Piper had no desire to laugh, didn’t think it was stupid in the slightest. In fact, she thought it suited him well. “Where do you want it?”

“What do you think about my forearm?” he asked, holding up his right arm, the one not currently wrapped around Piper. “Naturally covered in professional settings, but still somewhere I can see easily the rest of the time.”

Reaching out for his arm, Piper pulled it up to press a kiss right below the crook of his elbow, giving the spot her blessing. “I love it.”

There were several different framed sheets of potential eagle tattoos for Jason to choose from, but it didn’t take them long to narrow the choices down, considering most of them were hyper realistic and detailed. Finally he decided on a silhouette he liked, one of the bird with wings spread and talons outstretched. The detail was extensive enough that the image was clear while remaining minimalist, understated. When Jason let the artist know he was ready, Piper could tell from the unfading grin he wore and the way he was bouncing on the balls of his feet just how excited he was.

She stayed with him when he was taken back, sitting on his left side in a metal folding chair the tattoo artist pulled out for her. Piper wasn’t the one getting the tattoo, but the sight of the needle still made her queasy instantly, and she ducked her head to hide from it against his bicep. The buzzing sound of the machine didn’t bother her in the slightest, but Piper really did hate needles. Annabeth still went to the doctor with her to hold her hand when she got her vaccinated for anything, and once when her doctor had suggested switching from the pill to a shot every three months and Piper had laughed in his face. Hell would freeze over before she volunteered for a needle four times a year when there were plenty of other effective forms of birth control.

“How did you handle getting yours?” he asked when she finally had enough control over her stomach to look up again. Her focus remained on Jason’s face instead of giving the needle in his arm even the briefest glances. Jason was relaxed, smiling, didn’t appear at all pained by the needle stabbing him countless times a minute to inject ink beneath his skin.

“Why do you think I got it where I did?” she replied, managing to smile back at him. “Also, I was very drunk and Annabeth held my hand the whole time.”

A flicker of a wince betrayed Jason’s pain tolerance, but then he was grinning again. “Is that why you’re holding my hand?”

“No, I’m holding your hand because I like holding your hand,” Piper said, but at that moment she forgot herself and glanced over at where Jason’s tattoo was being carefully, methodically drawn and had to drop her head again to keep from either passing out or throwing up. Both Jason and the tattoo artists chuckled, but all she could do was whine in objection.

Nearly two hours later, Jason was done. His tattoo was about three inches wide, a perfect rendering of the example image he had selected earlier, and the skin around glowed bright red from irritation. As he stared at it, there was a mix of awe and pride in his eyes, like he couldn’t believe he’d actually done it while being amazed at his own courage. Piper had to admit, the bold, all black image now permanently etched on his skin was extremely sexy, but his adorable expression made it impossible for her to feel anything but her heart floating away like a helium balloon.

Jason was too excited to show his ink off, so when they settled up with the tattoo artist they headed straight back to the apartment. While on her way out the door and unable to stay and ask all the questions she wanted to, Thalia screamed as soon as she saw Jason’s arm. If Jason had been proud of himself for getting it, his pride was nothing in comparison to his sister’s. Frank was fascinated by it, studying Jason’s arm closely for several minutes, and in the hours that followed he started to ask if he should get one too. It was a subtle thing, but over the months Piper had slowly begin to realize how deeply Frank respected Jason, idolized him even, not that Jason noticed. Nico, too, was impressed that Jason had finally gone through with it. Apparently the whole family had been in on his indecision.

“Maybe I should get another one,” Jason said that night, when he was cleaned up and changed for bed. He’d been staring at his arm off and on all evening and every time Piper had caught him her heart had threatened to float away again. Reyna had given him a spare bottle of the antibacterial soap Thalia used whenever she got a fresh piece and a specialized lotion specifically for tattoos with SPF to keep it covered, along with a very long speech about aftercare so he didn’t end up with an infection.

Piper was at his dresser, braiding hair wet from the shower she’d just finished. “You’re going to get addicted, end up with whole sleeves like Thalia.”

“You managed to only get the one,” he replied, a hint defensive.

“Yeah,” Piper agreed, “but you saw how I got with the needle, and it wasn’t even me getting the tattoo.”

His smile returned as he laughed – Piper didn’t remember the last time she’d seen him smile so much in a single day and she wanted to freeze the moment, keep them in it forever. “It was cute. You’re cute.”

Throwing her braid over her shoulder, Piper looked at him with narrowed eyes, a playfully threatening glare with her smile just barely held at bay. Jason stared back, head cocking to the side, suspicious. She didn’t give him any further warning before she launched herself at his bed, the usually silence springs of his mattress creaking under the force of her landing and Jason letting out a surprised yelp. Her momentum made it easy to roll onto her back and pull him on top of her, both of them laughing as they settled.

“You’re pretty cute, too,” she said, still giggling, her hands resting on his face.

That same wonderful smile he’d been wearing all evening was in full force. “Not just cute, though,” he said, and even though his expression was the brightest and most innocent she ever remembered seeing it, there was a heavy hopefulness in his voice. Lucky for him, her earlier, very unsexy, mood was long in the past.


	77. Chapter 77

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter contains explicit content.

“Where are we going?” Annabeth asked, glancing over at Percy. They were stuck in traffic in midtown, holding hands over Bessie’s center console the way they usually did when he drove.

For reasons unknown, Percy had taken Friday evening off training so they could have an actual _date_. They were doing something outside the apartment, outside his brownstone, not just on or around campus between classes. There had been no need to dress up for the occasion, according to Percy, so Annabeth was wearing jeans and a light, green sweater, just warm enough to offset the coolness of the early May evening without risking overheating.

“I wanted to do something special tonight,” he told her with a smile and a squeeze to her hand, which wasn’t an actual answer to her question and something he’d already said. When she continued to stare at him, Percy added, “I’m keeping a promise, that’s the only hint you’ll get.”

She had no idea what he was talking about, couldn’t think of any promises he’d made and not already kept. It wasn’t until they were in sight of the building that it dawned on her and Annabeth let a laugh of disbelief. “The Plaza?” she asked, her eyes trained on the hotel only two blocks away. She was hit by the memory, buried underneath a night’s worth of them, both good and bad – Percy’s promise on their first date that she could drag him back to tell him all about the history surrounding the building and its construction.

“Would you like to spend the night with me?” he asked, light and teasing, confident in what her answer would be.

The question made her huff again in disbelief, though this time she was much less amused. “Wait, you got us a room? Percy, that place is like, stupid expensive. Like even Piper McLean might think twice about staying there expensive.”

“Exactly,” he said with feigned heaviness. “And I can’t get a refund, so it’s going to suck if you say no.”

“ _Percy_ ,” she chided, her brow furrowing, overwhelmed by the notion. Even the most basic of rooms at The Plaza were outlandishly priced – depending on the time of year, the type of room, and even the day of the week, it could run upwards of a thousand dollars a night. “We could have just had dinner or drinks. You didn’t have to get a _room_.”

He’d never told her exactly how much he got for the endorsement deal with that sporting goods chain back in February. Considering he’d offered to pay a third of her tuition from it, she could make a few assumptions, but she couldn’t imagine it was a massive amount and he’d been living off it for a couple months already, would need to for at least a few more. 

When the commercial he’d filmed had finally aired – an awkward and annoying spot that had autotuned Percy delivering a terrible catchphrase while wearing a speedo in what Annabeth assumed was a poor attempt at going viral – she’d asked him if it was worth it. He’d said it was not. Most of that she figured was down to the embarrassment of everyone he’d ever known calling him to tell him about seeing it, but she also wondered if it was because the payout hadn’t been particularly impressive in comparison to that annoyance. For the first time she was regretting not asking more explicitly just how much they’d paid him.

(Annabeth loved the commercial entirely too much, because it had been the stupidest thing she’d ever seen and she was so stupidly in love with him, but that was irrelevant to the issue at hand.)

No matter how much his payday had been, though, it didn’t change the fact that booking a room at The Plaza was downright insane. Just looking at the building as they approached made her anxious. Annabeth’s fingers itched to pull out her phone and see how much a room was running that night, if only for the sake of fully understanding the extent to which money had been thrown away – and all this for _her_. That was probably the worst part of it.

While Annabeth had never experienced the hardship of being without more than enough money to get by, she still hated being wasteful with it. Over the years she’d bumped heads with Piper countless times because of reckless spending. If they took a trip together, Piper always wanted to stay at exclusive luxury hotels and resorts, but Annabeth leaned toward more reasonably priced accommodations. Even spending her father’s money and knowing there was plenty of it to waste, she didn’t see the need to be extravagant and always felt uncomfortable going crazy. Now that money actually _was_ an issue in her life, those preferences and feelings had only been compounded.

As they pulled up to the front of the building, Percy stared at her. “Are you mad?”

“Yeah,” she answered, her frustration making the single word come out harsh and high pitched.

Percy was confused, his mouth opening and closing like a fish as he tried to formulate a response. The valet was coming around to the door, though, and Annabeth knew they needed to get out. With a sigh, she unbuckled her belt and opened her door. It took a few seconds for Percy to follow suit, but then he climbed out of the car, popped the trunk and handed his keys off to the valet.

Annabeth waited for him at the door with her arms crossed and face set into a grimace while he got a bag out of the trunk and slammed it shut. The fact that he’d even thought to pack them an overnight bag did, admittedly, diminish her anger a hint, but as soon as she looked back at the entrance she was reminded of where they were and how outrageously expensive it was just to breathe in the direction of The Plaza Hotel and it all came roaring back. She couldn’t believe he’d actually done something so crazy and senseless.

Actually, she realized as they walked into the foyer and toward the reception desk without a word to each other, she _could_ believe it. She’d always known Percy was impulsive. He’d told her himself that his default setting was extreme. Those were things she loved about him. In this context, though, she wanted to strangle him for it.

“I’m sorry,” Percy said, once they arrived in their room, neither of them having spoken a word to each other as he had checked them in and they had taken the elevator up.

It was a basic suite with a king bed, chaise lounge, desk by the window and a flat screen TV – honestly, not really _that_ much more impressive than any other hotel room Annabeth had ever been in. Except the main light fixture in the room was a crystal chandelier that Annabeth was already itching to sketch, and the matching gold gilded wood work on the dresser and desk were absolutely exquisite, and as soon as Annabeth took a few more steps inside she saw the bathroom and her jaw dropped. Just that bathroom was one of the most beautiful things she’d ever seen, with a separate bath and shower, mosaic tiled floor, gold plated fixtures, and a white marble vanity. 

So, okay, yeah, it was _that_ much more impressive than most other hotel rooms Annabeth had been in, and Annabeth had been in some nice hotels over the years. Not the point.

Before she even had a chance to say anything to him, Percy amended, “Actually, I’m not,” with a quiet chuckle. “That look on your face is worth however mad at me you are.”

“Why did you do this?” Annabeth asked, again crossing her arms and staring him down, trying to understand what had gotten into his beautiful, insane head to make him think spending a so much on a single night was a good idea. Maybe if it had been a special occasion she would have been able to understand, at least if it were a _big_ special occasion, but it was just the first Friday in May.

Percy dropped the bag he’d packed them on the chaise and plopped down beside it, disappointed by her reaction, but not at all regretful. “Like I said, I just wanted to do something special.”

Annabeth took one last look at the gorgeous bathroom before walking further into the room and leaning against the wall, arms still crossed. “Okay, but there are a ton of things we could have done that would have been special and not come with a massive price tag.”

“I’m perfectly aware of how much the room cost,” he said, a defensive lilt to his voice.

“Are you?” she asked, unable to believe him. “Because I feel like if you were, you’d understand why this is so upsetting for me.”

Running his hands through his hair, Percy took a few deep breaths. “We haven’t discussed finances,” he finally began, tone deceptively even. The vein protruding from his neck told Annabeth he was working hard not to pop his top entirely. “Mom and I didn’t have much when I was little. It got better over the years, but I remember what it was like when she had to choose between putting money on her metro card so she didn’t have to walk miles to work and putting food in the fridge. I got my first part time job at thirteen and never stopped working, because even in high school when my parents were comfortable, I hated having to ask them for anything. I _know_ how much this room cost, and I don’t mean to be an ass about it, but I probably understand the value of that money better than you do.”

She knew better than to think Percy meant that to be hurtful, but the truth still smarted. There was no denying she’d enjoyed an extremely privileged upbringing, at least financially. Even without her dad footing the bills, Piper, Tristan and Athena had kept her on her feet, in school with a roof over her head, food in her stomach, and all her other necessities covered. Annabeth wouldn’t call herself spoiled, because spoiling required a degree of affection Fredrick Chase had never been able or willing to give, but she’d been born with a massive silver spoon in her mouth.

“I’m sorry,” Annabeth said, genuinely penitent. Assuming he’d been mindlessly reckless for the fun of it hadn’t been fair to him. That didn’t entirely negate her frustration, though. “I still don’t understand why we couldn’t have just had dinner here. I would have loved that.”

“Because I wanted to do _this_ ,” he told her and she couldn’t help rolling her eyes because it felt like they were about to start talking in circles. That eye roll must have been enough to kick start his brain, because he continued before she had to repeat herself and press him to explain. “I wanted to spend more than an hour or two here with you, without other people to interrupt or distract us. When I had that crush on you sophomore year, I had this – I don’t know if fantasy is the right word, but that’s kind of what it was – of just listening to you talk about the things you loved, whatever they were. I’d imagine lying in bed with you, falling asleep while you talked, or sitting across the table from you over a meal while you told me about things I’d probably never even thought people knew. 

“On our first date,” he continued, his voice blending frustration and love so perfectly it made her chest ache, “when one of the very first things you did was start rambling over how amazing this place was, and who built it and all that adorable shit, it felt like an actual dream come true.”

He had never told her that before. Over the weeks and months Percy had told her about the physical things which had caught his eye those years before, the fantasies she’d inspired while he sat in the back of their shared class and stared for two whole hours a week through an entire semester. Along with it he’d always told her how much he enjoyed the questions she would ask, that sometimes at the end of their lectures he’d look at his notes and have only written down their professor’s answers to what she had asked. She’d found it sweet that his attraction had been massively physical, but not _just_ physical, even though they never spoke directly.

Not once had he told her his actual _fantasies_ went beyond getting her naked, though. He didn’t know what she was passionate about, of course, but it hadn’t mattered to him. All he cared about was that it would excite her. He wanted to learn what she loved. From the very beginning, even when his attraction had been mostly physical, he’d wanted a real relationship with her, something meaningful and rewarding. Percy had fantasized about _dating_ her, loving her, even, not just having sex with her.

“I talk at you all the time,” she replied, though her anger was starting to fade.

A smile pulled at his lips and she could practically see him fighting off the urge to tease her about that fact. Instead of teasing he said, “And I love when you do.”

“But why now, today?” she pressed, her desire to understand and stop being mad at him growing with every sweet thing he said. “This would have been great, although still a little overkill even then, for an anniversary or birthday. Today is neither of those things.”

Percy hung his head a little, the sight admittedly making Annabeth want to rush over and put her arms around him. Staying mad at Percy really was impossible, even when she knew her anger was justified. 

“We’re two weeks away from finals,” he answered, his voice small. “Graduation is a few days after that. You’re going to get a job, then I’ve got Nationals, hopefully the Olympics after, and if that happens I’m going to be at training camp with the rest of the team for almost an entire month. Everything is going to start changing and I just… I wanted to do this while we still had the chance.”

The breath went out of Annabeth like a punch to the gut. “Are you worried we’re going to break up because of all that?”

“No, not really,” he replied softly, then added, tentative, “but a little. I know you’ve got your whole life figured out, Beth, and I honestly find that amazing. Sometimes I worry that maybe you’ll realize I don’t fit into those plans, that they aren’t going to be compatible with whatever I end up doing next, or you won’t be able to put up with the uncertainty of me _not_ knowing what I’m doing next.”

It felt like an anvil had been dropped on her chest. Annabeth couldn’t be apart from him for a second longer. She crossed the few feet to where he was sitting on the chaise and placed her hands on either side of his face, tilting it up to look at her. 

“Yeah, I have a lot of plans,” she agreed, because there was no way to deny Annabeth pretty much always had a plan, a back-up plan, and back-up back-up plan. “We’ll figure out how whatever you want to do will fit into it all when the time comes. There aren’t plans without you anymore, though, even if that means having to make changes or sacrifices down the line.”

Saying that terrified her, feeling it even more so. Her whole life Annabeth had been chasing after a single dream, one that would ensure she was noticed and remembered. The forgotten and invisible little girl she had once been refused to let herself remain unseen. For years she’d thought the only way to accomplish that was occupational success, but in a few short months she’d realized how wrong she had been. Those big, lofty dreams still motivated her, and she still wanted to accomplish everything she’d set out to do since she was little, but she no longer felt like her life would be worthless if, for whatever reason, she couldn’t accomplish it all.

Annabeth was seen. Piper had always seen her. Her brothers, who she’d always figured never thought twice about her, had seen her. She’d gained a whole slew of friends who saw her. Awards and accolades would certainly be wonderful, but she doubted they would ever be as fulfilling as building blanket forts with Piper, as sitting in the kitchen listening to Hazel talk about her enchanting dates with Frank, as early morning conversations with Jason about current events over coffee, as the smile on Estelle’s face at her fifth birthday party. They would certainly never be as fulfilling as being loved by a man as extraordinary as Percy Jackson, nor as being able to love him in return.

“Being willing to change your life plans for your boyfriend of less than three months sounds a little extreme,” Percy replied. His lips were pulled into a smile as he gazed up at her, those sea green eyes seeing her as completely as they had from the very moment he’d first laid them on her, before she’d even known they were looking.

She laughed softly, shaking her head in reverence, because sometimes even she couldn’t believe how lucky she was. “Yeah, well, somewhere along the line my default setting got bumped up to extreme.”

“I’ve been told I have that effect on people,” he said, turning his face to kiss one of her palms. “Does this mean you’re not mad at me anymore?”

With a deep breath she realized it did. Her anger had completely dissipated. 

“On one condition,” she replied, doing her best to appear stern. When Percy looked at her curiously in return, she continued, “Never, and I really mean _never_ , do something this extravagant without at least discussing it with me first again. I understand why you did it, I understand that you didn’t spend the money thoughtlessly, and I understand it was as much for yourself as it was for me, but it still makes me wildly uncomfortable to have this kind of money spent on me at all.”

“I’m sorry I made you uncomfortable,” he told her, his expression contrite, telling her he really meant it, “and I promise next time we’ll talk about it first.”

“I love you,” she said.

“I love you,” he replied.

For a few seconds she continued to just look at him, his eyes shining in the warm, dim light of the overhead chandelier. It amazed her that a few minutes ago she’d been furious, and now she simply wasn’t. It amazed her equally that a few minutes ago _he_ had been furious, and now he also simply wasn’t. Loving Percy still terrified her sometimes, because it seemed impossible something so precious could last. In moments like this her fear evaporated entirely. She couldn’t explain it and she didn’t care if she ever did. Annabeth just soaked in the reality of it – of believing in the deepest part of her heart this would not end, even if sometimes she was a presumptuous brat, and even if sometimes he made her want to pull her hair out.

“Now,” she said, slipping her hands down from his face to curl her fingers into his t-shirt and begin to pull at it, “let’s at least get your money’s worth tonight.”

Percy’s eyebrows shot up, but he obediently raised his arms and allowed her to strip his shirt away. “Getting my money’s worth means getting naked, huh?”

“Yes,” Annabeth confirmed, her eyes trailing down his torso appreciatively, still not in the least bit immune to his absolutely delectable body. “That bathtub is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen and we need to make use of it immediately.”

“Oh,” he said, his expression morphing instantly into one of disappointment. As she stepped away from him, slowly toward the bathroom, and began tugging off her own sweater, he added, “Wait, _I’m_ supposed to be the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen,” in an adorably whiny voice. She had said that to him _once_ when a little tipsy and very horny and he’d never let her live it down.

He was, though. He truly was, even just sitting there in their dimly lit hotel room in his jeans. “Sorry. You’ve been bumped to second place,” she replied anyway, as she tossed her sweater aside and slipped into the bathroom.

She’d only just leaned over to turn on the water when Percy came up behind her. He pressed against her ass, making her laugh as he very dramatically dropped a condom on the edge of that very beautiful porcelain and gold tub. Percy then wasted no time going for the zipper of her jeans. “I don’t like second place,” he said, the amusement in his voice letting her know he at least wasn’t actually upset about her teasing. He was just a big, needy dork.

Water poured over her fingers, Annabeth getting it to the perfect temperature as Percy peeled her jeans off her. A pleasant shiver went through her when he trailed his hands up her legs afterward, then around to tease her through her underwear. “What do you think you’re doing with that hand of yours?”

“I just like the way the lace feels,” he answered, failing to sound as innocent as she knew he was trying to. There was nothing innocent about the way he centered in on her clit and rubbed, but there wasn’t anything innocent about the way she rocked back against him, either, still bent over the tub.

“Are you sure it’s the lace you like?” she asked, her breath catching as he began to rub harder, with more direct intention, the texture of the fabric making the sensation strange and unfamiliar, but also wonderful.

His free hand reached up to drape her hair over one shoulder and his head dipped down so he could put his lips on her neck, speaking against her skin. “Since I’m only second place, yes.” 

A smile pulled across her face at the way he continued to complain. “Does that mean you like the lace more than me now?”

“You like a tub more than me,” he replied, and suddenly his fingers became rough and unforgiving, making her let out a surprised cry and need to reach for the wall for support. Her knees turned wobbly, her toes curling against the cool tile, but thankfully his free arm was wrapped around her waist, giving her enough additional support to maintain her position. She pushed harder back against him, grinding, in need of more relief, feeling him growing hard beneath his jeans. He didn’t relent until her orgasm had come and gone, leaving her weak, whining, and breathless, and happy to be so.

Somehow she managed to catch the water before the tub became too full, her hand shaking when it twisted the knob to shut off the stream. Percy helped her straighten and turn to face him, the self-satisfied grin he wore making the continued weakness in her knees even worse. “Are you happy now?” she asked, her hands going straight for his jeans.

“Not in the slightest,” he lied and she could feel his fingers inching up her spine toward the clasp of her bra, making quick work of unhooking it.

After she let her bra fall to the floor, her hands began pulling down his jeans and his hands went for her chest. She really did love his almost juvenile fascination with her breasts. While he played, she dipped her lips to his neck, inching down his chest, smiling against his skin as he whined when she finally dropped to her knees and out of his reach. His muscles tensed as she mouthed along the waistband of his underwear, waiting until his fingers had tangled into her hair before beginning to tug them down.

She kissed his thighs, ran her tongue along his hip bone, allowing his erection to brush against her without ever directly touching it, feeling him shudder and hearing him whimper. Every twitch of his body, every sound that slipped past his lips sent heat searing through her veins, emboldening her, empowering her even though she was the one on her knees. One word from her and their positions would be switched, and his desperation would be just as intense.

When she couldn’t stand teasing him a second longer, she reached for the condom he’d deposited on the tub’s ledge and ripped it open. She still fumbled with putting them on, but as she carefully rolled the latex over him her eyes flickered up to his face. The expression of unbridled lust he wore was certainly better than any tub. Just for the sake of seeing his eyes darken further, she gave him a few firm strokes with her hand once the condom was secure.

“Get in the tub, please,” she finally instructed, grazed her teeth against his thigh one last time, and stood.

His breathing was ragged, his brow furrowed, as he looked at her in confusion. “Really?”

“Before the water gets cold,” she replied firmly, pushing up on her toes to catch his bottom lip between her teeth, enjoying the stupefied look on his face.

Shamelessly, she watched him climb into the tub and settle into it. While she’d been teasing about the tub, there was something truly exceptional about _him_ in it, his legs a hint too long to sit comfortably, his strongly muscled arms resting on the edges. The image belonged in a museum, but instead it belonged to Annabeth and Annabeth alone. 

“Definitely the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” she observed as she wiggled out of her ruined panties and stepped in to join him. He practically glowed, smiling back at her.

Percy’s hands reached for her instantly, pulling her toward him. As soon as she was within reach, his mouth was on her stomach, trailing up between her breasts, to her neck and then jaw. When his lips finally found hers, she was surprised by how desperate she’d become for them. Their kiss was slow and hot, making her melt into him and into the warmth of the bath. Without breaking it, moving together, their hands slipped between them. Annabeth pushed herself up just enough, then he was inside her and they were both moaning into the kiss.

Eventually they did break away and his mouth fell against her skin, her neck and breasts both getting plenty of his attention as her fingers threaded into his hair and her hips moved. It was their first time trying a position aside from her on her back, mostly because she had been too nervous to try anything else. Annabeth quickly discovered she enjoyed being in control. When something felt good she didn’t have to hope he noticed and did it again, she could do it herself. She took what she wanted from him, emboldened by the fact Percy took just as much enjoyment from her greediness as she did. 

Pleasure pooled in her stomach, molten and taunting, and she slowly began to pick up speed. Water sloshed out of the tub in time with her movements. Sighs and moans echoed off of the tiled walls. He slipped a hand between them, fingers finding her clit again, though this time his movements were a gentle coax, working to release the fire smoldering inside her. She was close, maddeningly so.

“Please,” he whispered, his teeth grazing her ear when she whined and buried her face in the crook of his neck. For weeks he’d been doing his best both to be patient as she got used to sex and to make her comfortable enough to fully enjoy the act. She did enjoy it. She loved it. Orgasm still eluded her, though, no matter how close he managed to bring her. All Percy had left to offer was a quiet plea. “I want to feel you come, Beth.”

That was all it took. Her fingers tightened in his hair and her lips fell open, but even as she ground harder against him, she kept her face pressed into his neck. It wasn’t harsh or powerful, but it was drawn out and saccharine, each roll of her hips washing another wave of release over her and making her entire body clench. After a several lengthy seconds she felt his fingers curl into her skin and the way he bucked beneath her, heard him let out a low and contented moan, and knew he’d followed her to the finish.

When she finally pushed herself up enough to look at him, Percy’s head was laid back against the wall, his eyes heavy lidded and his lips pulled into a smile. She brought her hands up, brushing wet fingertips against his jaw as she matched his smile with one of her own. “You are a thousand times more beautiful than any tub,” she told him, letting out a breathy laugh.

“It is a pretty good tub, though,” he replied easily. She could tell he was pleased she was done teasing him, all the same.

With a little maneuvering and a very careful removal of his condom, they settled together to soak, Annabeth resting against his chest as his hands wandered her body lazily. She talked at him, just like he’d wanted, telling him all the useless facts she knew about the hotel and then expanding on other, unrelated things that came to mind while she was rambling – about architects and the countless historical monuments and buildings in New York, about her heroes and what she imagined her career would look like someday. Once the water had turned cold and their skin had begun to prune, they reluctantly climbed out and pulled on robes so soft and fluffy they could have been confused for clouds.

Despite Annabeth’s objections about how expensive everything was, they ordered room service. She did at least manage to talk him out of spending _three hundred dollars_ on what they called a “Home Alone Sundae,” and into getting a regular sundae instead. It was, admittedly, nice not to have to get out of bed or the wonderful hotel robes, although Percy ended up complaining about how tiny his personal pizza was and ordering a second one.

“You know,” Annabeth said when they were working on the second ice cream sundae Percy had ordered in addition to his second pizza, “I’ve been thinking, and not just now or because you mentioned it earlier, but in general the last couple weeks, about graduation and this summer.”

Percy paused with his spoon halfway to his mouth, nervous, then swore under his breath when some melted ice cream dripped onto his robe. As he shoved his spoon in his mouth and wiped at the robe, he mumbled, “What about it?”

“I think I’m going to wait to look for a job until the summer is over,” she told him, laughing when he seemed to only make the mess on his robe worse. “I haven’t heard back from any of the firms I applied to already, so I’m thinking I’ll just take that as a sign and try again in a few months.”

“What?” he asked, pausing in his attempts to rub the ice cream out and look at her instead, a worry wrinkle forming between his brows. “Why?”

She took another bite of ice cream, sucking on her spoon to give herself more time to formulate her explanation. It really was something she’d been considering for a while, but the concerns he’d expressed had been enough to help her arrive at a resolute decision. 

“Well,” Annabeth started, gearing up to put all her thoughts to words, “I want to be able to go and support you while you compete, for one, and I don’t think I could get that much time off if I started a new job in the next month or two. Piper was able to get off for the trip to Rome by telling them up front, but her job is worlds different than what working for an architecture firm is going to be like. I still have plenty of the money my mom gave me left, mostly because Piper never lets me pay for anything if she’s around, so I’m not in dire straights in that regard. Our birthdays are coming up, too, and I just… 

“I want to be able to enjoy it,” she concluded, her brow furrowed and her lips set into a stubborn frown, as if she were talking about something horrible and not the idea of spending the summer with the people she loved. “All I’ve ever done is focus on school and reaching these arbitrary goals I set for myself, even on breaks and summer vacations. There was always studying to be done, reading lists to be tackled, internships, things like that. For once I want to enjoy myself for a little while, relax, be happy, focus on the good things in my life.”

There was a smile on his face, his earlier nervousness gone, when he reached over for her hand. “If that’s what you want to do, I think you should do it.”

“You don’t think it’s stupid or irresponsible?” she asked, voicing her own concerns.

“What’s the point of being as smart and responsible as you’ve always been if you can’t be a little stupid and irresponsible when you want?” he replied, making her roll her eyes and the frown she’d been wearing morph instantly into a smile.

“So you _do_ think it’s stupid and irresponsible,” Annabeth said.

He didn’t deny it. “In a good way.”

“You just want to have me to yourself all summer,” she decided, playfully accusatory. His approval of her plan was actually a relief, even if he agreed it wasn’t entirely smart or responsible. Annabeth had been sincere when she said he was part of her plans, and that meant she didn’t want to make major decisions he couldn’t get behind, too.

“Yeah, I do,” he admitted with a laugh. “I want you to myself forever.”

As soon as he’d said the words he became confused, shaking his head and blinking. Annabeth felt her heart rate tick up, even as he quickly began to struggle to find some way to amend his own statement. “I didn’t– I mean– That’s not–”

She cut him off, climbing across the bed and not caring that her knees clattered against their food trays and knocked aside plates, by kissing him. Her heart continued to race as she wrapped one arm around him and cradled his face in her other hand. In that pounding heart of hers she knew there was no way for him to walk back what he’d said, not without lying, and Percy wouldn’t lie to her. It was okay, though, she didn’t need him to walk it back, to find an excuse for what he’d said or somehow qualify the sentiment as anything less intense than it sounded.

Months before, in a blanket fort with Piper, Annabeth had said she wasn’t sure whether Percy would be her last first or not. In that unnecessarily expensive hotel room, still mildly annoyed by his indulgence, a little terrified by how excited she was to do something stupid and irresponsible for the first time in her life, and a lot in love with him, she knew he would be. The coward in Annabeth would keep her from saying it for a long time to come, she knew, but it didn’t change the fact she wanted Percy to herself forever, too.

Percy had never needed words to know how she felt, though, and as they stripped off those fluffy robes and kicked plates and trays to the floor, she was sure he understood exactly what she was thinking.


	78. Chapter 78

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter contains explicit content.

As soon as May rolled around, time started to feel like something entirely made up.

Piper’s days felt endless, but it somehow also felt like whole days disappeared in the blink of an eye. With finals just around the corner there was more studying to be done than any one human was actually capable of. Projects, essays and presentations piled up for everyone in those last few weeks, no one really having the energy for anything that wasn’t school related (aside from poor, amazing Percy, who _still_ managed to spend at least six hours a day in the pool on top of everything else he was juggling). Most nights Piper fell asleep while working on something only to wake up hours later and discover Jason had carried her from the living room to bed and tucked her in.

He was always able to do that because Jason barely got any sleep himself. Despite the fact that his degree was no longer applicable to his future, Jason would not allow himself to slack off on his schoolwork. In addition to all that school work, came a constant flow of preparations for his impending first day on the job.

To establish him within the company, Jason’s dad had assigned him to begin working as editor-in-chief at one of the magazines Grace Media Group owned and operated. It was a small publication and apparently one of the most successful, unlikely to fail even though Jason had no idea what he was doing. The position was just a formality, a way for Jove to bring Jason in front of the board in a year or so and say, “Look! He’s a genius! A perfect successor! Now do what I say and get behind him or else.” Jason had immediately gone to work familiarizing himself with the personnel files of the team he’d be leading, pouring over reports on sales and ad revenue, reading back issues, and studying everything he could get his hands on about how a magazine was actually operated.

Where she could, Piper helped. Her major was Communications, but she had a minor in Media Studies and that gave her some insight into the industry. Occasionally she was able to clarify terminology for him, explain certain processes or practices. Being able to assist him even in those small ways felt good and she was glad he felt comfortable enough to ask her when he wasn’t sure about something. Wanting to do the best possible job, he was throwing all his pride away. Piper simultaneously hated having to see him do it and found him immensely admirable for being able and willing to. She wondered if his father would ever know or care about how much effort Jason was putting into doing his best, even when no one expected him to do anything more than sit at a desk and look pretty for a while.

The Friday before finals, after weeks of endless days and nights filled with nothing but _work_ , Piper had reached her limit. 

They were at his apartment, mostly because Jason found it a little easier to focus there. Piper put it down to him always wanting to talk or do something more fun with Annabeth and Percy around. His own family were more familiar and therefore less tempting to goof off with, at least for him. The fact that Piper was more inclined to ditch her studying to have a few drinks with Thalia and Reyna or play a few rounds of cards with Nico and Frank was not as big an issue, if only because Piper had significantly less to do.

“Stop,” she commanded, plopping herself down on the couch next to Jason and putting her hand in front of his laptop screen. Piper had no idea what he was working on but, frankly, she didn’t care. It was work of some kind and she was fed up with work. All of it. No exceptions.

Jason, however, was not on the same wavelength. “I’m almost done with this. Give me a few more minutes.”

“Nope, you’re done with it _now_. No more minutes,” she replied, keeping her hand in his way. Part of her wanted to just snap the thing shut, but she had enough sense to know that would likely result in him losing progress. She was trying to make him relax, not angry, and she didn’t want to inadvertently create more work for him.

“That’s not how being done with things works, Pipes,” he said, though he turned his gaze from the computer screen to look at her. His eyes were bloodshot, strained from the sheer amount of time he’d been spending in front of his laptop. Purple bags had formed under those eyes of his, too, likely from the lack of sleep, but also the stress itself.

“It is when you’ve been staring at that stupid laptop screen for hours and I’m getting jealous of it,” she told him, jutting out her bottom lip playfully. That wasn’t actually the case. Piper wasn’t _so_ needy, but she herself was beginning to feel burnt out and, more importantly, she worried about him. Playing up the whiny factor, making it about herself, would work better than asking him to take some time for himself.

“And what should we do instead?” Jason asked, the corner of his mouth threatening to quirk upward into a grin.

There were a few potential things that came to Piper’s mind, but they all fell into a single category. “Literally anything that isn’t work.”

“I really should get this done,” he objected again, though he didn’t seem very enthusiastic about it.

“You will get it done,” she insisted, putting a little extra whine in her voice, “later. Right now you _really should_ entertain your girlfriend, who feels like she’s going crazy and could not read or write a single word if her life depended on it.”

His lips finally pulled into a small smile as he looked at her, the plan to win him over by acting annoyingly pitiful working like a charm. “I could probably spare a few hours,” Jason relented.

“That would make me the happiest person in the entire world,” Piper replied, and she lifted her hand to cup his cheek. As she brushed over the discolored line of his precious little scar, Jason’s smile grew wider. Before she could even formulate the thought of her own desire, his lips were on hers.

As they kissed, Piper felt Jason close his laptop and set it aside, then he slowly pressed her down onto the couch. Getting lost in his lips was a refreshing change of pace from grueling over text books and notes. She held his face in her hands, felt the comforting weight of his body above her, and even she felt tension she hadn’t realize she’d been carrying around begin to melt away. His kiss was languid and molten, as if they had all the time in the world to just lay there, touching and tasting each other. She slipped her hands down and began unbuttoning his shirt, in no hurry as she carefully slipped each button out of place, her heart pounding harder with every brush of his tongue or teeth.

She didn’t bother stripping his shirt off properly, instead putting her hands to skin the instant she had it open. Resting one palm over his chest, she felt his heart pounding in tandem with her own, strong and just beginning to race. For a few seconds she enjoyed that sensation, soaked in his warmth, breathed in the herbal scent of his cologne, felt the firm and cloying pressure of his lips. No matter how much time passed, Piper continued to be surprised by the discovery that these relatively chaste moments were just as intimate to her as sex ever could be.

Not that she didn’t want more of him, because as his lips finally broke away from hers and began trailing down her jaw, and as her hands began to move down his chest and abdomen, the craving for him threatened to overwhelm her. From the way he pressed his hips down against hers, she knew the feeling was mutual. Having him right there on the couch seemed like a very good idea. Jason had other plans, though. Before her hands could drop down to his belt and begin undoing it, he pulled away. 

“No,” she whined, reaching to pull him back in vain.

“Someone’s going to walk in on us if we do this here,” he replied, thankfully not going far and opting to slide his hands up her thighs.

“Let them,” Piper said, a smile pulling at her lips as his eyes narrowed to a playfully admonishing gaze. Challenging him, she reached for her own jeans to slowly undo the button and zipper. One of his eyebrows quirked up as she then slipped her own hand into them.

Amusement sparking in his eyes, Jason sat and watched her, his only touch being the slow caress of his hands on her thighs. “What do you think you’re doing, Miss McLean?”

“What you apparently don’t want to, Mr. Grace,” she said with a small shrug, already a little breathless. His intent gaze as her fingers moved only made her excitement mount that much faster, her breathing turning uneven as each twist of them on her own clit made her huff and her legs squirm around him.

“Oh, I wanted to before, but I’m enjoying this show too much now,” he told her, a shameless grin pulling at his lips and his hands beginning to massage her thighs harder, holding her down whenever her hips tried to buck up against her hand. His sleeves were rolled up and every time his arms flexed to resist her, Piper’s eyes were drawn to the tattoo on his forearm. She still couldn’t believe he’d done that, and the contrast of the pitch black ink against his skin was sexy no matter what he was doing. Right then it was downright sinful.

The closer she got to orgasm, the more blatantly excited Jason became, like he could sense it and wanted it even more than she did. If she’d had any idea this would turn him on so much, she probably would have tried it much sooner, mostly because it was turning _her_ on, too – the way his breathing became heavier, the firmness of his hands pressing down on her thighs, the slight redness coloring his cheeks telling her he felt shy in response to how much he appreciated it, the flick of his tongue over his bottom lip. His simple enjoyment of her pleasure was exhilarating.

A quiet cry slipped past her lips as she came, her back arching and her eyes snapping shut. Jason squeezed her thighs as she continued to rub herself through her orgasm, twitching against his hold and whimpering, lowly beginning to come down from her high. When she retracted her hand and finally looked back at him, Piper found Jason’s gaze dark and full of want. Her heart skipped at the knowledge this meant he was no longer going to sit and watch.

His voice was hoarse when he said, “I have half a mind to throw you over my shoulder and carry you to my room.”

“Please do,” she replied with a giddy, breathless giggle.

Despite knowing it was coming, she still shrieked when he followed through on the threat. Piper laughed at the top of her lungs, kicking her legs in the air all the way down the hall. When he tossed her onto his bed like a sack of potatoes, she laughed some more, the mattress bouncing beneath her. Watching with a broad smile on her lips as he shrugged out of his unbuttoned shirt and climbed in after her, she slipped her fingers into his unfairly soft hair and pulled him into another kiss.

They laid there kissing for a long time, again getting lost in that simplicity, her hands exploring his chest and back as if she hadn’t long memorized every plane and muscle. Finally, when the need for more of him once again threatened to overwhelm her, she hooked a leg around him and flipped them over.

“You’re so impatient,” Jason teased, his swollen lips pulled into an affectionate smile.

“I am, yes,” she agreed, wasting no time in pulling off her blouse and stripping off her bra. As she rolled her hips down against his, feeling the taunting bulge of his erection, she asked, “How are you not?”

The relieved sigh he exhaled told her being patient didn’t come easily to him. “Patience is worth it sometimes,” he replied heavily, his pupils shot as his eyes trailed up her bare torso and to her face. For a few seconds, even as she continued to grind on him, his lust turned to something softer. “You were worth waiting for, Pipes.”

Piper’s chest constricted, warmth flooding her, and she stilled, exhaled a heavy breath. “I wish I had waited for you,” she whispered, surprised by how deeply she felt it. 

While she still felt no shame about her past experiences, she couldn’t help wondering what it might have been like if Jason had been her first, too, if they’d met when they were younger. Surely they had always been within each other’s orbits, just out of reach. So many of the other kids at her boarding school came from upper class families, the majority of them having grown up in New England. Several times in high school Piper and Annabeth had even made the hour and a half trip from their school to New York City with classmates for sightseeing and party going over weekends. 

There must have been some party she missed, some outing she skipped out on, where she would have run into him if only she’d gone. She wondered what it would have been like then, if they would have been just as drawn to each other as they had been in Club Jupiter those months ago. There was no universe she could imagine in which she wouldn’t have been instantly attracted to him, wouldn’t have bent heaven and earth to be with him once she knew him.

“I don’t,” he replied, turning her thoughts to smoke, voice barely above a whisper.

“You don’t?” she asked, her brow furrowing with confusion.

A wide smile spread across his face and he reached up, brushing the back of his fingers against her cheek. “I wouldn’t have you any other way than you are right now, Piper McLean, and you wouldn’t be the same person if you had waited.”

She huffed a quiet laugh of reverence at the man beneath her and then she leaned down to kiss him, all her lust and desire renewed. They worked together on their pants – Piper undoing his and Jason tugging at hers – and it was an awkward, fumbling mess as they got themselves out of them. After Piper reached for his bedside table to grab a condom, Jason rolled them both onto their sides, limbs tangled together. He let out a shaky breath when Piper slipped the condom on him, and then he was kissing her again, simultaneous moans rumbling in the backs of their throats as she carefully positioned him and he pressed inside her.

“You’re perfect,” she practically whimpered, her hands coming up to his face as they settled themselves, legs still entangled, chests pressed together. Usually he objected when she used that particular word, but she took the opportunity to silence him by beginning to move her hips. Any objection he might have spoken was lost to another moan against her lips. 

The pace she set was slow, their breath hot as it filled the infinitesimal space between them, mixing with their contented sighs and encouraging whines. Each roll of her hips was purposeful and calculated, a selfish step toward her own gratification. Jason’s hand rested on her ass, kneading it gently as he ceded control to her for the moment. That wouldn’t last long, she knew. Once upon a time Jason had been happy to let her take the reigns, but as his confidence had grown and his control in other aspects of life had been lost, he’d become especially eager to be the one calling the shots in bed. She was more than happy to oblige.

As she began to move faster, his brow furrowed and the sounds he made became louder, more frequent. She’d grown familiar enough with how he handled himself to know that meant he was struggling to stay under control for her sake, letting her take as much pleasure from him as she wanted before giving in to his own need. Once he gave in, there would be no stopping him. The closer she came to her own orgasm, the more she wanted him to give in.

Reaching his limit, Jason rolled them over again and put Piper on her back. Her only complaint came when he got to his knees and pulled too far away for her to continue kissing, but that issue soon became irrelevant. Leaned forward on one arm, his other hooked around her waist and lifted her slightly off the bed, then his lips were on her stomach, inching toward her breasts. The position gave her absolutely no leverage, Jason in complete command, so that all she could do was rest her head back and enjoy the quick and hard impact of his thrusts, a deadly combination with the way his teeth began to relentlessly tease her breasts.

Her eyes closed tight, she let out a string of strangled cries as she climaxed again. As much fun as the first one had been, it was nothing compared to the feeling of coming with Jason inside her, the orgasm only made better when it was accompanied by him continuing to pound into her while her body clenched and her sensitivity heightened. Even after she finished, she continued to whine and whimper in harmony with his desperate grunts, reveling in every extra second of mercilessly continued stimulation until he finally followed her over the edge.

When he let her fall back to the mattress and collapsed down beside her, Piper covered her eyes with one arm to catch her breath, a contented smile on her lips. That had certainly been a perfect distraction from the endlessness of preparing for finals, and Piper had every intention of keeping Jason distracted well into the evening. Others would likely be home soon, but that was alright by her. They could order food in, maybe watch a movie or something else equally mundane and mindless, everyone together, enjoying each other’s company to the fullest. Anything was better than letting Jason fall victim to his bottomless pile of work again before the day was done.

Dropping her arm to her side and looking over, she found Jason gazing at her. Considering how good she felt, her body already beginning to pleasantly ache, the hopefulness she had for a long evening of fun and good company, seeing melancholy in his eyes unsettled her. Nothing really kept that expression off his face very long, as if some part of him was simply waiting for everything to fall apart. Every time she saw it, a hairline fracture crept across her heart.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, still breathless, but the bliss she’d been reveling in dissipating.

Jason shook his head and, though he smiled, it was clear he was doing it for her sake. “I just love you.”

Piper reached out to him, cupping his cheek in her hand. “I love you, too,” she assured him, because it was all she knew to do, and she hoped it was enough to calm the storm raging endlessly inside him.

Twelve days to graduation. Piper told herself once they got there, once they got through finals and put the extra burden of school behind them, everything would be better. She could make it twelve days.


	79. Chapter 79

Graduation arrived in the blink of an eye.

After what had seemed like the longest semester of her life, Annabeth thought it should have happened slower, but suddenly they were done with finals, celebrating finishing their last exams over beers, spending the weekend and two subsequent weekdays being treated to congratulatory meals, and then she was in a purple graduation robe and a black cap at Yankee Stadium with several thousand other graduates to commemorate the last four years of all their lives.

Annabeth admittedly got a little misty eyed, especially seeing Piper all dressed up and looking like a model on the cover of some NYU brochure, but also when they arrived at the venue and connected with Percy, Jason, Leo, and everyone else in the massive crowd who was there to support them. Her middle and high school graduations had been so lonely. Having so many people to hug and thank for coming – from Estelle’s choking grip, to Will’s awkward pats on the back, to Athena’s subdued expressions of pride, and everyone in between – felt surreal. It was hard to believe how much richer her life had become in so short a time, when even the semester before she had expected this graduation to be the same disappointing affair as both the others.

Since, between the five graduates, there were close to twenty people there in support, one of those supporters was five years old, and four of them were parents, after the ceremony they made their way to The Grove to eat their fill and enjoy each other’s company in celebration. 

If anything, the place had only become more beautiful since the last time Annabeth had visited, with flowers in full bloom and a new installation of fairy lights to make the ambiance extra mysterious and magical despite it still being light outside when they arrived. Watching the impressed expressions of all the newcomers was a delight for Annabeth and she wondered if her own expressions had been the same the morning Percy had brought her for second breakfast.

That Friday morning Percy had dragged her out, Annabeth had been lost. Sitting down on graduation day, looking around at all the smiling and familiar faces around her, she knew she’d finally found what she had been searching for her whole life.

“Um, you’re fired as my best friend for not bringing me here sooner?” Piper said as soon as she got a look at the restaurant's all vegan menu.

“Yeah, what the hell, Beth?” Percy agreed, his arm draped over the back of Annabeth’s chair, his eyes full of mirth at the opportunity to tease.

Piper, though, was apparently not only upset at Annabeth for this oversight. “Don’t act all innocent. You didn’t bring me either, Jackson.”

“And watch your mouth,” Annabeth scolded, with a light smack to his chest. Thankfully Estelle, in Annabeth’s lap, was plenty distracted by the coloring book and crayons Sally had packed for her, and hadn’t seemed to notice her brother’s swearing.

To accommodate the large group, Grover and Juniper had pushed together five tables into a single, long unit. A sign had been taped to the front door indicating the restaurant was closed for a private party. The party was being sponsored by Sally and Paul, a fact Annabeth only discovered because she overheard Sally telling Grover if he didn’t take their money – “This is your _business_ and you deserve to be compensated for your services, even by family. At the very least let us cover the cost of ingredients.” – she would never bake him another cookie again. It might have sounded like an innocuous threat, but the color had drained out of Grover’s face and he’d finally relented to keeping track of an actual bill to give them later.

Sally, Paul, Athena and Victoria were seated at the end of the makeshift banquet table, cautiously getting to know each other while leaving the group of youngsters to their own devices. Annabeth maybe should have been more concerned about her mother and Percy’s parents’ first meeting, but they were all history buffs to one degree or another and appeared to be getting along wonderfully already. Athena still might not have been fond of Percy, but she warmed up to Paul and Sally quick.

Will sat between Athena and Piper, across from the chair that would have been Estelle’s, had Estelle not instead decided her home was on Annabeth’s lap. Jason sat beside Piper, with Frank, Hazel, Nico and Reyna making up the rest of the side of the table opposite Annabeth. Leo sat next to Percy, with Cal and Thalia rounding out the group. Juniper fluttered around the tables, making conversation and taking orders, while Grover had gone into the back to fire up the grill.

They really were a big group and it excited Annabeth to realize most of them would be going to Rome together in a couple short months.

“It’s honestly a miracle she hasn’t gotten in trouble for swearing at school yet. And that her first word wasn’t something dirty,” Hazel offered up, the look on her face distraught, eyes moving from Percy to Leo as she shook her head. The existential exhaustion made Annabeth think Hazel had been on the front lines trying to mitigate Percy and Leo’s foul mouths since the moment Estelle had been born.

Beside her, Frank was scanning the menu with his eyebrows furrowed. “How does a vegan bacon cheeseburger work?”

“I still don’t get it either, and I’ve had like ten of them,” Leo answered.

“Does that mean they’re good?” Frank asked, and looked over his menu at Leo, an eyebrow quirked and hope in his eyes – he always had to ask for the cheese to be kept off his burgers, but vegan cheese was dairy free. Annabeth imagined he was excited at the prospect of finally being able to enjoy cheese without suffering immense pain as a result.

“Have I ever led you astray, Zhang?” Leo asked in return, placing a hand on his chest and looking insulted. “At least where food is concerned.”

Practically in unison, the whole of their usual lunch group chimed in with various, loud affirmations, because, yes, Leo had led them _all_ astray where food was concerned, a few times. They’d taken to rotating who chose where to eat on those Monday, Wednesday and Friday lunch hours spent together. Leo ended up cut out from the decision making process altogether after not one, but two, of his selections had resulted in food poisoning. His judgment could not be trusted. The rest of the group laughed as Percy went into storytelling mode to fill their other friends and family in on those extremely unfortunate incidents. 

A pang of longing struck Annabeth as she listened to Percy recount it all, realizing there were no more of those eventful lunches in their future now that school was behind them for good. Reaching graduation and _missing_ the way things had been was a new concept to Annabeth, too. Her whole life Annabeth had reached these milestones and been thankful to put the past behind her, hoping the next phase of life would be better. For the first time she actually believed better was possible, inevitable, but that belief didn’t negate the bitter in bittersweet.

In Leo’s defense, though, Grover’s food was stellar, offering no way to be led astray. Frank ordered his bacon cheeseburger and all but inhaled it, then very shyly whispered to Juniper that he would like another. He wasn’t the only one who became very focused on the food once it was served, either. Conversation quieted as everyone turned their attention to their meals, and when someone did start talking again, it was only about food. Platters of nachos, various breaded and fried veggies, and an endless stream of french fries were spread across the tables for everyone to share along with their entrees. It was a feast by any measure.

Not long after finishing their meals, in the short lull after Thalia and Frank had finished sharing an embarrassing anecdote about Jason pulling an all-nighter to finish a project and giving his presentation the next day with his shirt inside out, Athena and Victoria decided they should get going. Annabeth could tell the festivities with a bunch of strangers had been awkward for them, but she appreciated their presence there just the same. It was only her second time seeing her mother since the night she’d shared her story, and she still didn’t quite know what to make of what their relationship was or might become, but they were trying. Athena being there, at Annabeth’s graduation, went a long way toward building a decent foundation for them.

“You have a lovely family, Percy,” Victoria said at the door, Annabeth and Percy there to see the couple out.

“And it was nice to finally meet Piper. She’s wonderful and I hope to get to know her better,” Athena added, glancing over Annabeth’s shoulder to where the best friend in question was still seated, playing rock-paper-scissors with Leo over the last of the nachos, even though Grover kept insisting he could go back and make them more. Piper let out a victorious cheer as, Annabeth assumed, she won the rights to those last few bites. 

“I’m sure she’d love that,” Annabeth said, trying to smother an amused, affectionate smile. 

After a couple stiff, awkward hugs, the two were out the door and Annabeth breathed a sigh of relief. Trying was nice, but it was also exhausting, and even surrounded by so many people she loved, she hadn’t been able to relax knowing her mother was looking over her shoulder.

“Let’s go convince Grover to make dessert,” Percy said, slipping an arm around her shoulder and pressing a kiss to the side of her head.

Unfortunately, when they turned back toward the table, Sally and Paul were up and getting Estelle ready to go, too. Estelle was not pleased about having to leave, but she still had another week of pre-school and it was a Wednesday. Much more of the group stood to see those three off – a flutter of hugs, kisses and pleasantries exchanged, though once Estelle jumped into Annabeth’s arms again she nearly refused to go. It was only with a promise to come by and do some fort building over the weekend that Estelle finally acquiesced and allowed Paul to take her.

On the bright side, that was Grover’s cue to bring out a secret stash of alcohol he’d prepared just for the special occasion, and the group quickly transitioned into their next phase of celebration: drinking.

“Since I’m not of age and this is your special day, I’ll forgo drinking and drive home instead,” Hazel declared, pointing at Percy, her eyes sparkling at the prospect. The way she spoke made it sound like she was making a great sacrifice on Percy’s behalf, benevolent and generous.

Percy pointed back and said, “No fucking way. I’m on strict orders not to drink until after the games. Better luck next time, Haze.”

“When are the games again?” Frank asked, examining the IPA Grover had handed him.

“Opening ceremonies are July 25th,” Percy answered with a heavy sigh. He was nervous, finally beginning to really feel the pressure as the moment of truth quickly approached. “Qualifiers are in a month, though. Have to get through those first.”

Will, who’d been mostly sitting out on conversation to just listen and laugh while the rest of them told stories, asked, “What events do you swim again?”

“The 1500 Free is my big one,” Percy answered, already becoming a little shy about the group’s attention being on him, his eyes darting between faces as he avoided making eye contact and his chin tilted toward his chest. “I do the 800 Free and a couple of 400 meter distance events, too, but the shorter the distance, the worse my performance gets. I’m more of an endurance swimmer.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes fondly at his modesty. “He says his performance gets worse, but he still took the title in all three events last year.”

“I swam _four_ events last year,” Percy corrected. “I only came in third in the 400 Free. I’m still not sure what happened there, because I’m usually better at the free than the medley.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, you’re right, third in the nation is a terrible performance,” Annabeth said sarcastically, pinching Percy’s side. With his waning confidence the closer he got to competition, she’d decided to make it her goal to keep his ego as bloated as possible, at least when it came to his swimming. He was an amazing athlete and he deserved to have faith in himself.

Denied her chance to drive, Hazel attempted to stealthily nab the beer in Frank’s hand and take a drink from it. If anyone else noticed, they held their tongue, but Frank wore a giddy little smile when he took a sip after her and leaned back, draping his arm over the back of her chair. They leaned into each other, never quite touching, but the dynamic vastly different from the awkward distance once separating them. The couple remained shy about most outright public displays, but gravitated toward each other all the same, awkward glances turned to knowing smirks and once deliberately avoided touches turned to intentional, secret brushes of fingers.

“He’s also topped his best time for the 400 Free in training like a dozen times the last few months,” Hazel said, glowing from the victory of her secret drink.

Annabeth turned to glare at Percy. “You didn’t tell me that.”

“Didn’t tell me, either,” Leo added, giving Percy’s shoulder a shove. “I thought we had something special.”

“I don’t even know how _Hazel_ knows,” Percy replied, a blush settling on his cheeks. “I didn’t tell anyone because what happens in practice doesn’t really mean anything.”

Hazel shrugged. “I have my ways. The point is, you have this summer in the bag.”

“You’re going to jinx me,” he objected, sinking into his seat.

“Too bad you were only ever any good in a pool,” Reyna said from down the table, leaned back in her chair and staring daggers at Percy, the bottle of beer in front of her already empty. For the most part she’d been quietly hanging out on the outskirts of the party with Thalia and Nico, joining in on conversation only when Jason was the center of attention or discussion, and even then allowing the others to take the lead. The group as a whole seemed surprised she spoke up, all eyes turning to look at her. 

Thalia leaned forward, holding her hand out across the table. “Rey, let’s not do this tonight.”

“No,” Reyna replied, ignoring Thalia’s outstretched hand and crossing her arms across her chest. “Tonight is the perfect time to do this. We might have had six graduates here if he’d ever learned to swim in _natural_ bodies of water.”

At those words all the color drained out of Percy’s face and Annabeth’s stomach dropped. In the silent seconds that followed heads turned, everyone looking in different directions – Annabeth’s gaze fell on Hazel, who had turned to Percy. Piper, too, was looking at Percy, but beside her Jason was leaned forward, staring down the table at Nico. Frank’s brow was furrowed, a mix of confusion and concern as he watched Hazel. Countless thoughts raced through every mind around that table in one big, invisible blur, as if they were being shared, all breath held, tension thick enough to smother them all.

“I promise I’ve lived with that thought every day for the last ten years, Reyna,” Percy replied, a surprising degree of tenderness in his voice. Months ago he had told Annabeth he didn’t blame Reyna for her anger, that he understood the grudge she held. His tone made it clear that had not changed, and probably never would.

“Yeah, well, maybe you should have had that thought before you talked Bianca into the lake,” Reyna said, her voice and eyes both hard, filled with pain.

“Stop,” Hazel snapped, her voice shaky and much louder than was necessary to carry across the otherwise silent group. “Please, Reyna, just stop. It wasn–”

“Hazel, it’s fine,” Percy interrupted, his expression turning firm and his voice barely above a whisper, a stark contrast to the volume of Hazel’s outburst, and a very distinct difference from the gentleness with which he’d taken Reyna’s lashing. There was power to those words, though, an unflinching intensity Annabeth had rarely seen Percy project, especially when speaking to Hazel.

To Annabeth’s surprise, Nico agreed with a soft, “He’s right, Hazel. Drop it.”

“Drop what?” Reyna asked, looking at Nico beside her.

“Nothing,” Nico replied, though pain flashed across his features and he couldn’t meet her eye.

“It’s not nothing and it’s not fine. You’ve been letting people walk all over you in my name long enough,” Hazel said, looking between Percy and Nico, her eyes shining with the threat of tears, but her head held high in challenge. She looked past Nico at Reyna, not backing down despite the continuing waver in her voice. “Percy wasn’t the one who convinced Bianca to go into the lake, I was. He wasn’t even there when we went in.”

“Hazel, don’t do this,” Percy pleaded, his hand gripping Annabeth’s tight when she reached out to take it in support. That was all Annabeth knew to do, offer her hand, her mind working overtime just to keep up with what was being said. 

If she’d been thinking clearly, she might have thought about interrupting to move them somewhere more private for this conversation, just Hazel, Percy, Reyna and Nico. This was something that should have been for their ears and their ears alone, to be shared with others only when they were ready and comfortable, if ever. They didn’t need an audience, or for so many of their friends and acquaintances to bear witness to their pain. She wasn’t thinking clearly, though, and she doubted anyone else around the table was, either.

Hazel looked over at Percy and shook her head. “I should have done this years ago. I should never have let you take the blame at all.”

“I was there, I saw it. He’d been in the lake too,” Reyna replied, almost desperately, looking around at the rest of the group as if searching for answers none of them could give. “When Maria and I got there, he was soaking wet.”

“In his clothes,” Hazel said, her tone softening, pleading. “No one ever asked why he was in his clothes. You never thought it was weird that he’d been swimming in jeans and a t-shirt, in the middle of that scorching hot day? Bianca and I were both in suits.”

The look on Reyna’s face made Annabeth think that, like Hazel suggested, Reyna had never thought about it, and now she was fighting to rectify that very obvious discrepancy Hazel highlighted with her own memories of the day in question. Those memories were a decade old, clouded and colored by her pain and bias. Annabeth could only imagine how long it would take to sort through them, to truly understand what was being said, and all the implications the truth brought with it.

“It was so hot that day, but they were getting ready for some stupid party and didn’t want us in the house,” Hazel continued, when Reyna didn’t respond and no one else spoke up, her voice becoming more strained with every word. “I just wanted to cool off, so I said we should swim. We did it all the time, I didn’t think… Bianca said we shouldn’t without any adults around, but I kept begging and threatening to do it myself anyway, so she finally agreed. We weren’t even in there for half an hour before…

“Percy was the first person to hear me screaming,” Hazel said, the resolve with which she’d been speaking weakening as she turned again toward Percy. “He jumped into the lake and dragged me out, then told me to go for help while he went back in for Bianca. She’d already been under for a minute or two by then, at least, maybe longer. I’d never been so scared in my life. I just ran for the house.”

Reyna’s gaze settled on Percy. There was still anger in her eyes, though confusion and hurt seemed to be more prominent, softening her glare around the edges. “Why did you tell them it was your idea?” she demanded.

“What do you think they would have done if they’d known it was Hazel’s?” he asked in reply, the question as much a plea for understanding as an explanation. 

While Annabeth didn’t know Hazel’s family, nor did she know much about their history, she understood enough from that question and the few things Hazel had mentioned in passing to draw the same conclusion Percy had come to all those years ago. The implication was as clear as it was heartbreaking. If Hazel had been at fault in her parents’ eyes, even as a child, she would never have been forgiven. Her life would have been a miserable one. For a decade Percy had carried the blame for that accident just so Hazel could be free of it.

Annabeth looked at Hazel, whose head hung in shame, cheeks already glistening in the low light from tear stains. Annabeth grown up shouldering the blame for her mother leaving, at least as far as her father had been concerned. A few months earlier Fredrick had made it clear he blamed her for what had happened with Luke, too, another burden that shouldn’t have been hers. That wasn’t a life she would wish on anyone, to be resented by a parent, especially not someone as sweet and gentle as Hazel.

“I can’t– I need some air,” Reyna said, her chair scraping against the floor as she shot to her feet. 

There was a flurry of noise as Reyna headed for the door and others quickly rose to their feet in response. Thalia gave chase first, but Jason was quick on their tails. Piper, mouth agape and looking as overwhelmed as Annabeth felt, turned to Will to say a quiet apology and goodbye. They hugged, Will nodding his understanding and waving off the apology without hesitation, and then Piper hurried out the door as quick as her heel clad feet could carry her.

When Nico hesitated, glancing between the door and his sister, Hazel said, “Go. I’m okay.” That didn’t really seem like the case to Annabeth, but Nico nodded once and then followed the others. Lifting her gaze to Frank, her own pain and guilt held at bay by what could only have been a sliver of remaining strength, she said, “You should go too, it’s alright.”

Frank shook his head and reached out to take Hazel’s hand. “I’m not going anywhere.” Those words broke the dam on Hazel’s emotions. A second later she let out a sob and instead of just her hand, Frank was sweeping her up entirely in his arms.

Silence fell over the rest of the group, only the sound of Hazel’s crying filling the restaurant. Annabeth took stock of the remaining faces. Will wore his discomfort awkwardly, very likely feeling like an intruder but not wanting to be rude and draw attention to himself by leaving at such a sensitive moment. Grover and Juniper watched from the far end of the table, clinging to each other and watching their friends with twin expressions of grief. Cal’s wide eyes were full of concern and locked on Leo, who stared across the table at Hazel like his heart was breaking right along with hers. He hadn’t known her until years later, and Annabeth got the impression this revelation was as shocking to him as it had been to everyone else.

This secret had belonged only to Hazel and Percy – though, from the way he’d tried to stop Hazel’s confession, Nico must have known, too.

It was then Annabeth looked to Percy. Anguish was written plainly on his face in the slope of his brow and curl of his lips as he watched Hazel’s shoulders shake and her quiet sobs be muffled into Frank’s chest. A deluge of thoughts tumbled through Annabeth’s mind, finally catching up to the present after so many minutes failing to work at all. Little comments, moments, her memories related to Percy’s refusal to tell her the story of Bianca di Angelo, played through her mind like an old film reel, spotty and faded, but still plain enough to begin making sense of. Among all of them, one stood out most prominently, though she wasn’t even sure why it was where her mind got stuck.

 _The Lottery._ Tessie Hutchinson. The story of a woman whose own family turned on her at the drop of a hat, the moment it became both socially acceptable and beneficial to them. A cruel world where family meant nothing and loyalty even less – a cruel world that was much too reflective of reality. Percy said the story had haunted him since he’d first read it, but hadn’t been able to explain why. As Annabeth watched him, thought about the risk he’d taken and sacrifices he’d made to protect Hazel from her own family, people who very well might have been looking for a reason to turn on her all along, Annabeth was beginning to understand. 

That was one question Annabeth would have preferred remain unanswered.


	80. Chapter 80

By the time Jason and Thalia had convinced Reyna to stop walking and talk to them, they’d gone a good five blocks. It took a lot of very diplomatic coaxing from Jason to convince Reyna to get a taxi and head home. Already it had turned dark, the city as loud and alive as ever on a Wednesday night, but thankfully it didn’t take too long for Jason to flag down a cab and get Reyna, Thalia and Nico in it. His town car was only a phone call away, but it took the driver a few minutes to find him and Piper, considering they’d traveled so far from where they were expected to be.

“Are you alright?” Piper asked Jason softly in the backseat of the car once they were on the road, slow going through evening traffic. 

Jason’s brow was furrowed, his lips turned down into a grimace, and his hands were shaking even as she held tight to one. She remembered the night months before when he’d had to get his family home after their party had come to a violent end. That night she’d been so upset with him for leaving her behind. Not for the first time, she regretted that anger. He must have been just as, if not more, shaken then. Instead of helping, Piper had only added to his problems. How he had come out of _that_ dramatic and childish display and still managed to see something lovable in her was as confusing as it was humbling.

“We just need to get home,” he replied, squeezing her hand. That wasn’t really an answer, but she understood just the same.

When they made it up to the apartment, Reyna was seated on the couch in the living room, dejected and staring into the distance. Thalia sat beside her, a hand on her knee, watching her intently. Nico stood toward the back of the room, his arms crossed over his chest as he stared out the window at the sparkling New York City skyline, endless and sprawling, not stopping for anything or anyone.

Without a word, Jason led Piper into the living room. He sat himself stiffly in an armchair. Piper, not wanting to venture out of his reach, settled herself on the arm of his chair and slipped her hand into his hair, running her fingers through it soothingly. In this intimate, emotional moment for their little family she felt somewhat like a voyeur, like she didn’t belong, but none of the others seemed bothered by her presence, and the way Jason leaned into her touch told her he wanted, maybe even needed, her there.

"Did you really know?" Reyna finally asked, several minutes of silence later, and though neither of them was looking at the other and the question hadn't been properly directed, everyone knew she was asking Nico.

"Yeah," he replied, not turning his gaze from the window.

"How long?" she asked, her voice unable to contain the betrayal she must have felt.

"I always knew," Nico told her, his voice calm and even. "I was following him around that afternoon, like I always used to back then. I saw it all happen, but no one noticed me. It wasn’t until after I moved in here that I even admitted to Hazel that I’d seen it all."

Reyna huffed a humorless, anguished laugh. "You hated him for years."

Nico's next response took longer. He stood completely still before the window, blending into the night, no one else daring to break the silence. Finally, heavily, his voice overflowing with years of pain and grief, Nico explained, "He pulled Hazel out first. Bianca had been under water for who knew how long at that point, but he pulled Hazel out first. It didn't make any sense to me. Percy always favored Hazel and I thought… I don't know, that he just didn't care about Bianca and let her stay in there longer or something. It sounds ridiculous now, but that’s the only explanation I could think of at the time and so I was convinced he’d _let_ her die for no reason. He could have saved her and he didn’t.

"Hazel was panicked, though," Nico continued, his voice only growing more sorrowful as he told his story, "she was struggling to stay above water already when Percy got there, screaming for help like _she_ was the one dying. If he'd tried to find Bianca first, Hazel probably would have drowned too. I didn't realize that until later, until recently, honestly. If he'd made a different decision, I would have lost them both."

No one spoke when Nico had finished. Jason leaned closer to Piper, his eyes fluttering closed. There were still many things Piper didn’t understand about Jason’s relationship with Nico, but it was evident in that moment how deeply he felt Nico’s pain. She cradled his head as he pressed his face against her hip, taking a few deep breaths, drawing strength from her, and then he straightened up to wait while these two people he loved struggled through their own conflicting emotions.

“I can’t believe this,” Reyna said after another minute or two of silence, shaking her head, and then laughed again. “Ten years. It’s been ten years.”

Completely exhausted, Nico turned from the window and looked back at Reyna, though she was facing away from him. “I’m sorry, Rey. Percy was right, though. My mom, she never would have forgiven Hazel if she’d known the truth. Whether intentionally or not, I don’t know, but she would have made Hazel’s life hell all the same. It was better this way.”

“This is… I can’t talk about this anymore, not tonight,” Reyna replied, getting to her feet. Thalia rose beside her. After struggling for something else to say for a few seconds, Reyna shook her head again, exited the living room and disappeared down the hall to her bedroom.

Thalia looked at Jason and Piper, then over at Nico, her expression soft and oozing concern. “I’ll talk to her. She just needs some time to think and sleep it off.”

“I know,” Nico replied, though his shoulders slumped and Piper got the impression he blamed himself for Reyna’s suffering. There was no blame for Nico to bear, though. Piper didn’t think anyone could really be blamed, at least no one present in that apartment, or who had been at the party that night, for that matter. 

Blaming Reyna might have been easy. Reyna was older, wiser. Ten years ago she would have been eighteen, an adult in the most technical sense, and probably should have known better than to hold a kid like Percy so responsible. Piper remembered being eighteen, thinking that number meant something because the world said it was the _adult_ age. Piper remembered Annabeth at eighteen, too. It didn’t matter what the world said. At eighteen they’d still been dumb, impressionable kids. Add in a cocktail of grief, anger and the poor examples of the actual adults around her, and Reyna’s bitter, unending grudge made a strange kind of sense.

Each in their own ways, everyone who’d been there on that day years ago was a victim of life’s cruelties, but more importantly of adults who took no responsibility.

When Thalia had excused herself, Jason looked up. “Could I talk to Nico alone for a bit, Pipes?”

“Of course,” Piper answered without hesitation, and leaned down to give Jason a kiss on the forehead. 

A small part of her wanted to give Nico a hug before she left, because he seriously looked like he needed one, but she knew Nico well enough at that point to be confident it wouldn’t have had the desired effect. Instead she gave him a small, supportive smile as she passed by on her way out of the room and hoped that would be enough.

She was nearly to Jason’s room when her phone buzzed in her pocket. Considering the state in which they’d rushed out of the party, worry that something else had happened twisted her stomach, but when she pulled her phone out the text awaiting her had come from an unknown number.

 **UNKNOWN (09:38PM)**  
This is Jason’s father. Don’t tell him I’ve contacted you. I’d like to speak with you in private. Now.

A subsequent message listed a suite in the building as their meeting place and, with a hint of nausea, she realized he probably already knew she was there. Jason had told her once that people didn’t say no to his father. Looking at the message, Piper had a sinking feeling that refusing him wasn’t an option in this case, either.

Turning back toward the living room, Piper told Jason and Nico she needed to make a call and wanted some fresh air, so she’d be back. Neither of them seemed to think twice about her excuse, though she wasn’t sure if that was because it was a good one or because their minds were just elsewhere. Either way, she considered herself lucky.

Even just making her way to the elevator, it struck her that meeting Jason’s father in secret might be a stupid idea. As the elevator closed and she hit the button for the proper floor – a lower floor and not one she needed a key for, which meant it wasn’t Jove Grace’s personal penthouse – she realized he could very well murder her and cover it up without anyone being the wiser. That sounded stupidly dramatic even to her own usually over dramatic mind, but in a rush of paranoid panic she sent a quick text to Annabeth. She’d been told not to tell _Jason_ she was meeting his dad. Telling Annabeth was probably fine. 

Or it would get her killed. At least she’d lived long enough to graduate.

It was actually an office Piper had been summoned to, not an apartment, but she couldn’t decide if that was better or not. Jove sat waiting behind a desk, though Piper didn’t think it was a desk he actually used on any regular basis, based on the practical emptiness of the surface. The space was just convenient for the moment. A single folder rested on the desk, something he’d likely brought along specifically for their meeting, ominous and threatening in its plainness. 

“Thank you for your punctuality,” he said, giving her a cold, calculated smile. “Have a seat.”

Piper sat in an armchair in front of the desk, finding it extremely uncomfortable despite the fact it had looked plush and cozy. The upholstery scratched where the skirt of her dress made way for bare skin, the cushions far too firm, and the low height of the chair made her knees stick up awkwardly, exaggerated by the additional height from her heels. 

“What can I help you with?” she asked, sitting stiffly straight, hands resting on her knees.

“You’re going to break up with my son,” Jove replied easily, knocking the breath right out of her.

“I’m sorry?”

“I’ll compensate you adequately,” he continued, that smile unfading, his eyes so similar to Jason and Thalia’s, and yet opposite in all the ways that made the two of them stunning. “About five million sounds fair to me. It’s more than I’ve given the many unsuitable young women who’ve tried to attach themselves to my other sons over the years. I think we can both agree Jason is worth it, though.”

Some of the initial shock burned away at the pure outrage Piper felt in response to being _bribed_. “I think you’ve misunderstood, sir,” she said, her words clipped despite her attempts to remain polite. “I neither want, nor need, your money. I love Jason very much and have no intention of breaking up with him.”

Jove considered her for a few seconds, his head tilting to one side, though that soulless smile remained plastered on his face. It was a look of triumph and the meaning behind it terrified Piper, knowing it could signal nothing good for her. 

“I had a slight suspicion you might not settle for the five million, but I’m really not interested in being extorted for more,” he replied, then picked up the manila folder resting on the desk in front of him. “Unfortunately for you, the cash offer is now off the table. I think this will be more than enough to make you see things my way.”

Her mouth going dry, Piper leaned forward to take the folder. It was thick with papers, heavy, and the sense of dread settling over her made Piper want to throw it down and run out without so much as glancing inside. There would be no running without knowing what was in there, though, so she opened it.

Initially, the contents didn’t seem so bad. The top pages were all about her – details of past relationships and flings, extensive school records, a police report from one time she’d tried shoplifting in high school in a poor attempt to get her father’s attention. None of the information was flattering, to say the least, and her stomach churned as she realized there were a few compromising pictures and screenshots from videos she hadn’t known even existed. She couldn’t entirely say even that surprised her, as unfortunate as having evidence of them in her hands was. 

If Jove thought the details of her life before she met Jason being presented in this way would be enough to scare her off, though, he was sorely mistaken. While she definitely didn’t _want_ Jason to see any of it, to have those very explicit images in his mind, these things weren’t secrets, not really. Jason would be disgusted by the fact the information had been compiled at all, not upset with her over anything it contained.

But it didn’t stop there.

After several pages on Piper, she found herself looking at the notes made by the reporter who’d traveled to San Francisco to interview the Chase family. Those notes detailed what Annabeth had confessed about Luke and said about her father. Along with them, was the initial draft of an article written about Annabeth’s story. Everything Annabeth wanted hidden had been written out neatly on a few pages from a legal pad, ready to be published for the world to see with little to no notice, as if it were a funny anecdote and not the greatest trauma of her life.

Annabeth’s school records were also included, similar in scope to Piper’s own, considering most of the trouble they got up to back then had been together. Piper knew very little of the Chase family beyond hating Fredrick, but there were mentions of Annabeth’s relatives in Boston, family secrets that shouldn’t have mattered, but probably did. A thorough report on Athena Pallas also accompanied the pages on the Chases, no stone left unturned, entire lives summed up on a few pages with Grace Media Group letterhead.

The deeper Piper got into the file, and Jove seemed happy to sit and wait for her to look through it all, the more ill she became. There were things about her father – an affair with the director of one of his early movies, a few financial records detailing debts that would probably be embarrassing if they ever saw the light of day, countless trysts the tabloids had never caught wind of. Most of it was just unpleasant, but all piled up it could destroy his image, and potentially his career, entirely.

Naomi had a few pages dedicated to her, but at least there didn’t seem to be anything more incriminating than a some unknown romantic endeavors of her own. Public personas were critical and Naomi had maintained a clean cut image over the years, as a mother, as a star, and as a woman in general. Just her marriage to Tristan and surprise pregnancy had made waves, earned her some nasty comments, even though no one had taken major issue with his side of it. These past relationships wouldn’t end her career, at least, but they would definitely open her up to abuse.

More worrisome were the details about Will’s love life – Will, who was still technically in the closet, and who would be horrified to be exposed before he was ready to share his identity with his mother himself, on his own terms.

Piper’s family weren’t even the only targets, though. Jove had taken it even further. There was documentation about Bianca’s death and Percy’s involvement (though, miraculously, no evidence of what Hazel had just that evening confessed). Some of Percy’s school records were in there as well, suspensions and expulsions from elementary and middle schools. There were police reports for Percy, too, fights that had almost resulted in charges filed and something about an explosion at one of his middle schools. 

A few pages seemed to be about Percy’s birth father, and though Piper felt like she recognized a picture of the man, she skimmed over it all and didn’t have the brain power to figure it out after all she’d already seen. She wasn’t even sure she _wanted_ to know, the deeper she went. There were pages about his family as well – invasive details of his mother’s and step-father’s lives and finances, and even Leo’s file from CPS was there.

All of that alone was enough to make Piper lightheaded, like she was about to lose control of her stomach, or her life, or both, but the last few pages were worse than all the rest of it combined. As if meaning to make it the final nail in her coffin, the information about Piper’s own mother had been saved for the end. Tears spilled over her eyes as she read the police report detailing her mother’s suicide, dates and times, details of the scene and the subsequent autopsy. It wasn’t even something that could be used against her, not hidden or secret, just an opportunity to be cruel, to prove a point. And it worked.

“Did you really ever think,” Jove finally said, his voice slicing through Piper more painfully than any knife, “you were worthy of my son, the heir to my empire? I know your type. You think a little money and a half decent education puts you in the same league as people like us and you attach yourself to exceptional young men like my son to better your position further, but you’re nothing. You’re a leech and a whore, and Jason can and will do far better than you.”

“That’s not your decision to make,” Piper replied, an ache beginning to take root in her chest and threatening to overtake her entirely. Snapping at Jove was a desperate, last ditch effort, and even she didn’t know where her own courage came from. “Jason has more integrity in his pinkie finger than you’ve ever even imagined having yourself. The only person this file will make him hate is you. Show it to him, I don’t care.”

Jove laughed, a booming sound that filled the entire office, but held no actual joy. “I can see why Jason likes you. You’ve got spunk and you’re certainly a pretty little thing, but you’ve misunderstood. It’s not Jason I’ll be sharing that information with if you don’t do as you’re told. You’ll be breaking up with him before the weekend is up or you’ll pay the price. And, now, you’re excused.”

The price, Piper realized, was the information contained within that folder. The price was ruined lives. The price was pain and suffering for everyone Piper knew and cared about – not just the people whose secrets were so vulgarly collated within the pages of that single file, but for Jason, too. The price was Jason’s father ruining everyone _Jason_ cared about. The price was Jason blaming and hating himself for it for the rest of his life.

It was not a price Piper could pay, and that had been what Jove was counting on.

She didn’t remember making her way back up to Jason’s apartment, but suddenly she stood in his living room, staring at the massive and empty space that had once been so cold and unfamiliar to her. His talk with Nico must have concluded, because neither of them remained. Her feet carried her to Jason’s room without her really thinking about it, and when she opened his door she found him sprawled out in bed, already changed and cleaned up for the night, hands folded in his lap and his lips pursed with thought.

“Is everything alright? You were gone forever,” he said immediately, before she’d even had a chance to take a breath.

 _No_ , she thought, but she had no honest explanation to give him if she were to tell him so plainly. Instead she took a steadying breath and delivered the best lie she could think of. “Annabeth needs me. I’ve got to go.”

The clear concern on his face was like vice grip on her heart, squeezing and twisting until the pain was so intense it spread through her entire body. “Let me get dressed. I’ll go with you.”

“No,” she said this time. “No, Reyna is going to need you in the morning. You stay here.”

Jason didn’t like that suggestion, the idea of separating for the night, but the truth of it was too much for him to deny. Reyna _would_ need him in the morning. His family had a rough road ahead and already Frank was missing from their unit, having understandably stayed with Hazel. They couldn’t spare Jason, not so soon, and even though he might have wanted and needed Piper by his side, he was not so selfish that he would deny Annabeth her support.

“Okay,” he conceded. “Text me, though?”

Piper nodded and then stepped back to leave, but before she could close the door, Jason called, “Hey, Pipes,” and she paused. He sat up in bed and tapped his index finger to his lips, the gesture so sweet and innocent it almost shattered whatever part of her was managing to hold back her emotions.

Despite doubting she had the strength, Piper smiled and stepped into his room. The distance to his bed was short, but it felt like it took a thousand years to cross. When Piper kissed him, she poured her whole heart into it, slow and torturous, until there was nothing left inside her. All of her belonged to him, and so she would leave herself with him, there in his room, one last time.

When she pulled away, his concern had only deepened, his eyes scanning her face, probably taking in the signs she had been crying. “Are you okay?”

 _No_ , she thought again, and, likewise, she could only lie again. “It’s just been a long night. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I love you,” Jason said, his worry unfading.

“I love you,” Piper replied, trying to smile and knowing she failed.

She made it all the way to the elevator before her the tears spilled over again, and then sobs wracked her. In the building lobby she had to stop and search out the public restroom, thankful Jason lived in such a ridiculously nice place. It certainly wasn’t the worst bathroom she’d ever thrown up in, and at least the floor was sparkling clean as she sat, hunched over the toilet, crying and retching until her stomach was as hollow as every other part of her now felt.


	81. Chapter 81

Annabeth decided to take the reigns when it became apparent the rest of the group was too stunned and shaken by the confrontation that had just played out to know what to do with themselves.

Oddly enough, Cal helped her most in getting everyone up and starting home. Cal’s calm and gentle demeanor proved especially effective in coaxing all of them out to the cars, while Annabeth focused her attention on the more logistical aspects of helping Grover and Juniper tidy up a little and figuring out a ride home for Will. Though Annabeth still felt little, irrational pangs of insecurity and jealousy around Cal, in that moment she thanked her lucky stars for the other woman’s warm and reassuring presence. They needed a caretaker as much as they needed Annabeth’s cool command, and she wouldn’t have been able to offer the group both.

“Are you sure you don’t want us to drop you off at your dorm?” Annabeth asked Will, standing outside The Grove. Leo and Cal had already left with Hazel and Frank, but Annabeth didn’t feel right about abandoning Will on his own to wait for the Uber he’d ordered. She knew Piper probably felt like crap already for ditching him with a bunch of people he barely knew in the middle of an awkward situation and hoped to be able to alleviate some of that understandable guilt in the morning.

He smiled, kind and comforting, and shook his head. “I’m sure, Annabeth. The car is like two minutes away, my dorm is way out of the way, and you should get Percy home. That was a lot back there.”

A lot was an understatement. Annabeth still unable to wrap her mind around everything, and she was only indirectly involved. “I’ll see you on Monday, then,” she told him, giving him a grateful smile and a small nod.

“Take care of everybody,” Will replied, practically shooing Annabeth away with a wave of his hands. “See you Monday.”

Monday Annabeth, Piper and Jason were going to head over to Will’s dorm to help him move his things while he crashed on their couch and looked for an apartment of his own. He was ready to be done with the whole dorm thing. Annabeth looked forward to helping him search, to go through the usually daunting process of viewing apartment after apartment to find the perfect place. It felt a million years away at the moment, though. Getting through the next few hours seemed impossible enough, let alone all the way to next Monday.

When she climbed into Bessie’s driver’s seat, Percy sat staring dejectedly out the passenger side window. He’d been wearing the tie she bought him for Tristan McLean’s wedding, but already it had been discarded, the first two buttons of his shirt undone. For a few seconds she sat looking at him, trying to find words to comfort him. Nothing seemed sufficient for what he was surely going through, so instead of speaking she started the car up and got them on their way. Once they were on the road, she reached across the center console for his hand. He threaded their fingers together and held tight, which she hoped meant she’d given him at least a little of what he needed. He deserved so much more.

Back at the brownstone everyone else had already arrived and settled in. Hazel had calmed down some, no longer crying, though her expression was grim and she remained silent as she sat on the edge of the couch with Frank beside her. Leo sat in front of her on the coffee table, talking to her quietly, the hint of a smirk on his face telling Annabeth he was probably trying to crack a joke or two to make Hazel smile. As soon as they were in the door, Percy rushed to join them, sitting beside Leo and reaching for Hazel’s hands.

These were people Annabeth cared about deeply, all of them, but in that moment inserting herself would have been intruding. Apparently she wasn’t the only one who had come to that conclusion, because Cal had taken up residence in the kitchen, giving the others space. Annabeth quietly slipped away to join Cal, close enough to respond quickly if called, but far enough that she no longer worried about overstepping or eavesdropping.

“Can I help with anything?” she asked tentatively when she got to the kitchen counter. 

Cal had two pans on the stove and, based on the ingredients arrayed on the counter, she was making the Jackson-Blofis family hot chocolate recipe. She heaved a relieved sigh and pointed toward one of the cupboards. “Could you get the mugs, please? I forgot to set them out before I started heating the chocolate. If I stop stirring now, it’s bound to burn.”

While not much, Annabeth felt good about being able to help with anything at all. She mostly watched as Cal did the rest of the work, finishing up the process of heating milk and chocolate and pouring it out evenly into six mugs, but she did help carry the drinks into the living room. Before she could head back into the kitchen, Percy grabbed Annabeth’s hand and kissed the back of it, his lips lingering there for several seconds. When he looked up at her, she ran her hand through his hair a few times, her chest constricting at the sight of him so clearly trying to hold back his own pain for Hazel’s sake.

“I wish I knew what to do for them,” Cal said softly, once they were both back in the kitchen, seated at the counter with their own mugs of hot chocolate and backs turned to the scene in the living room.

“You’ve done more than I have,” Annabeth replied with a frustrated huff, fighting the urge to look back into the living room and check on the group congregated there again. Taking a glance at them wouldn’t really tell her anything about what was happening, though, it would just make her heart ache even more and encroach on their right to privacy.

For a few seconds Cal sat staring down at her mug of hot chocolate and Annabeth thought they were going to settle into a slightly awkward, but not terrible, silence. Then Cal took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Annabeth asked, unable to keep the surprise from her voice or expression. There was absolutely nothing that evening for Cal to be apologizing for. Quite the contrary, Annabeth should probably have been expressing thanks, both for the hot chocolate and for the help back at The Grove.

“I know… Well, it’s understandable that me being here would make you uncomfortable,” Cal explained, her gaze still locked on the mug in her hands, her face pinched in a way that clearly displayed her frustration, but was kind of adorable. “I’m sorry for putting you in an awkward position. You probably think I’m terrible for… since I dated… and now…”

The tiniest hint of a smile pulled at Annabeth’s lips, and if she hadn’t felt so entirely drained, she might have laughed. “Cal, I don’t think you’re terrible.”

“You don’t?” Cal asked, finally looking up from her drink.

“Not at all,” Annabeth assured her, smile growing. “And I’ll probably always feel a little insecure around you, but that’s my issue and nothing _you_ have to apologize for.”

“You, insecure around me?” Cal repeated with plain disbelief, a small smile to match Annabeth’s growing on her lips.

“Well, yeah,” Annabeth confirmed, because it seemed like the most obvious thing in the world. Cal was everything Annabeth wasn’t – gentle, sweet, amiable, a natural caretaker, an amazing cook, beautiful in a delicate and ethereal way. Those qualities were all immensely enviable, and Annabeth didn’t doubt they had been qualities that had drawn Percy to Cal several summers past.

“I’m the only one who should feel insecure here,” Cal told her, smiling a little wider and shaking her head. “You’re a very admirable person and you’ve been nothing but kind to me, even when no one would have expected you to be.”

Those words meant a startling amount to Annabeth and she found herself feeling a little warm and fuzzy in response, a sensation she decided was also the fault of the delicious hot chocolate Cal had made them. “You’re a very admirable person, too,” she said, meaning it more than she would ever be able to express. “Don’t be sorry about being around. It’s good to see you and Leo so happy together, and I know that happiness makes Percy happy, too. I’m sure we’ll both figure out how to stop being insecure and awkward eventually.”

As they turned their attention fully to their drinks, the silence that settled over them was a lot less awkward than Annabeth might have expected, and definitely not terrible. Leo would be moving out in a couple short weeks and Cal would be going with him up to MIT, so Annabeth would see significantly less of both of them moving forward. On the occasions she did, though, she hoped to become increasingly comfortable with Cal. There was, after all, a very good chance they’d be family some day – in the legal and official sense, along with the more important emotional ways. Though a strange thing to consider, Annabeth didn’t hate the idea.

They waited there in the kitchen together for close to an hour before Leo finally appeared at Cal’s side to say he was tired. Annabeth said goodnight to them and watched with a surprising amount of fondness as they disappeared up the stairs, Cal whispering comforting words to Leo as she brushed hair from his face, Leo’s arm secured at her waist. 

Once the couple had gone, Annabeth took that as her cue to make her way into the living room. Percy was still seated on the coffee table, though Hazel had dozed off tucked under Frank’s arm. The guys sat silently, their attention focused on Hazel, but as soon as Annabeth was close enough Percy reached for her. Sitting down beside him on the coffee table, she took in the sight of snoozing Hazel, face puffy from crying but otherwise enjoying the peace only sleep could provide. 

“How’s she holding up?” Annabeth asked in a whisper.

“Alright, I think,” Percy answered, voice also quiet so as not to disturb Hazel. “She figures Reyna is going to hate her now, though.”

Annabeth didn’t know Reyna well and couldn’t speak to what the other woman would or wouldn’t feel, but she found it impossible to imagine anyone capable of hating Hazel. Annabeth would think the same thing about Percy, though, and Reyna had managed to hate him for years, so who knew. From the looks on Percy’s and Frank’s faces, it seemed they were unsure about what to make of that possibility themselves. The answer would have to wait for tomorrow. Hopefully in the light of a new day they’d all feel a little better and discover, finally, after all those years of secret keeping and suffering, they could really begin to heal.

If it had been up to the guys, they probably would have stayed there all night just so Hazel could continue to sleep undisturbed. Annabeth knew everyone would do better with a proper night’s rest, though, even if it wasn’t particularly late. After sitting there with them for another twenty or so minutes, she suggested they get Hazel up to bed and gently nudged the other girl awake.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep,” Hazel said, once her bloodshot, swollen eyes had blinked open as best they could.

“Stop apologizing,” Percy chided her, his voice so full of love it made warmth begin to spread from Annabeth’s chest despite her not even being the target of it. There was so much love in his heart, and he gave it so freely, without ever expecting anything in return. His openness constantly caught her off guard.

Frank shifted awkwardly, looking between the other three in the way Annabeth had learned meant he wanted to ask a question but wasn’t sure how, or if he was allowed to. It was easy enough to discern what was on his mind. He confirmed her suspicion when he said, “Is it o-okay if I stay the night?” with flushed cheeks, seeming to ask the question of Percy as much as Hazel.

Hazel and Frank had been dating two months, but as of yet not crossed into sleepover territory, or really done much more than a little kissing, from what Hazel had shared with Annabeth. There was no hesitation as Hazel curled her fingers into Frank’s jacket and nodded, though. She wanted him to stay. Expressing that desire took an impressive amount of courage, and an equal degree of bravery for Frank to have suggested it first.

“I might have something you’d be comfortable sleeping in,” Percy said, considering Frank’s broad shoulders and heavy set frame with pursed lips.

Whether the shirt and sweats Percy provided actually fit, they never found out, because Frank simply accepted the articles of clothing with quiet thanks and disappeared into Hazel’s room with her. Annabeth smiled fondly at the door once it was closed, thinking back to the evening Percy had first slept over at her place. Frank’s presence would be an unparalleled comfort that evening, but just as precious to Hazel in the light of morning, with the challenge of a new day ahead.

When she and Percy finally retired to his room, Annabeth pulled out her phone for the first time since they’d arrived back at the brownstone. It had been on silent and she hadn’t noticed the text from Piper, already well over an hour old. 

**PIPER (09:42PM)**  
jason’s dad wants to talk to me  
going to see him now

The lack of follow up in the subsequent hour and a half was worrisome – or, Annabeth tried to tell herself, the meeting had been nothing of concern and Piper had just forgotten to send the all clear.

 **ANNABETH (11:09PM)**  
sorry, only just checked my phone  
all good?

Piper probably wouldn’t reply until morning, considering the radio silence since the first text, but Annabeth made sure to turn her ringer up just to be safe.

Already Annabeth was exhausted, wanting nothing more than to crawl into bed next to Percy, hold him close and try to put a little of the night’s madness behind them. She knew he had to be even more drained, caught so very off balance and still managing to hold it together for Hazel. With a heavy sigh, she set her phone aside and reached behind herself to unzip her dress.

“Are you angry with me?” Percy asked before she could even get her fingers on the zipper tab, his voice barely above a whisper.

Annabeth spun around to look at him, so taken aback by the question that she was momentarily speechless. He’d seated himself on the edge of his bed, shoulders hunched and expression defeated. When she finally found her voice again, the only word she could get out was, “What?”

He looked up at her, his eyes impossibly more sea-colored as they shone with the threat of tears. “For not telling you.”

“No,” she replied without hesitation, the breath going completely out of her along with the word. In two swift steps she crossed to where he sat and took his face in her hands. “Percy, had you ever told _anyone_ about this?”

“You had never told anyone about Luke,” he said, closing his eyes as his tears finally spilled over. 

She wondered how long he’d been holding them in – not just that night, but for the years since Bianca had died. Something told her that he’d never allowed himself the release of just crying, wondered if he’d ever properly mourned for the loss of the girl he’d known and probably considered a friend. He’d told Annabeth he went to therapy after Bianca’s death, about overcoming a fear of drowning in the months that followed, and she hoped that meant she was wrong about her suspicions, but she also knew he still shouldered immense amounts of guilt and responsibility.

“Those are two very different situations,” Annabeth assured him, her thumbs brushing over his cheeks as his tears continued to fall. “I didn’t tell anyone about Luke because I was ashamed, and embarrassed, afraid people would think less of me if they knew. You kept this secret to protect Hazel.”

Percy opened his eyes, the sudden surge of intensity in them hitting her like a tidal wave. “I never lied to you,” he said, his hands coming up to lay over hers. “I know not telling you at all is only just a little better than not outright lying, but still, I didn’t. It… Everyone in my life believed the lie, my parents, Leo, Grover, everyone but Hazel. When we met I just… I knew I wouldn’t be able to stand it if you believed the lie, too. I needed _one person_ wh–”

“It’s okay. I know,” she said softly, cutting him off only because his breathing was becoming ragged and she worried he might talk himself right into a fit. The thoughts had been in the back of her mind since Hazel had started telling her story back at The Grove, but she put them to words for Percy’s sake. “You told me you took the blame for what happened. You told me you didn’t mind Reyna being angry with you. You told me there was a reason you didn’t want to tell me the details of that day. All those things were true, Percy. I know.”

His arms slipped around her waist and he pulled her close, pressing his face against her stomach. There was nothing more she could say, no words that could express the depth of the love she felt for him. Instead she ran her fingers through his hair, doing her best to soothe him as he cried. Simply standing there while he let his pain out was one of the most difficult things she’d ever had to do. Annabeth wanted to fix it, to make the pain go away, but there was no quick cure. Time, patience, and support would be what Percy needed. She would give those things to him gladly.

When he finally pulled back, his eyes beginning to swell, Annabeth smiled down at him. “You are the most amazing man I have ever known and I love you with all my heart.”

“There are other things I haven’t told you,” he replied, anguished, guilty, as if not having bared his entire soul, every little secret and story from the last twenty-two yeas of his life, over the course of a few months was some grave and unforgivable offense.

More than anything, Annabeth wanted to know those things about him, every last detail, but those details were insignificant compared to what she already knew – who he was. Percy was passionate, loving, selfless, loyal, intelligent, and hardworking. He was funny, quick witted, sarcastic, shameless, almost too willing to make self-deprecating jokes, and had a way about him that put other people at ease. Yes, he was also reckless, messy, impulsive, wild, and a little irresponsible at times, but she loved those things about him just as much, even when they made her want to pull her hair out. 

Annabeth knelt before him, taking his hands in hers and looking him straight in the eye. “We have an entire lifetime for you to tell me,” she told him, forcing herself to be stern even though instinct had her wanting to do nothing but comfort him. “Right now, though, you’re going to get changed and then into bed so you can sleep, because this has been a long, draining day and we’re both exhausted. I’m going to be there beside you in the morning, and the next morning, and the morning after that, until one morning you wake up ready to tell me something new. So, go brush your teeth and wash up, because I really don’t want a stinky, cavity ridden boyfriend.”

Just barely, Percy smiled, and Annabeth knew she’d gotten through to him. “Does that mean you’re going to dump me if I get a cavity?”

“I might have to, yeah,” she teased, smiling back at him.

They looked at each other, soaking in the moment, just being together, and then Percy leaned down and Annabeth pushed up on her knees and they met in a kiss. She felt him relax as her arms wound around his neck, his arms snaking back around her and pulling her as close as possible. His lips were salty with tears and his kiss demanding and urgent, as if until that physical confirmation he hadn’t quite believed she wasn’t upset with him. That was fine, because he could have any and all the reassurance he needed. God knew he’d given her the same, time and time again.

“Thank you,” he whispered when he finally broke his lips away and instead tilted his forehead against hers.

One hand moved to his face, her fingers tracing the line of his jaw, the curve of his cheekbone, her thumb brushing over his reddened lips. It felt ridiculous to accept his thanks. There was nothing for him to thank her for. Loving him sometimes felt like the most selfish thing she’d ever done, because loving him had made her stronger, braver, kinder. All she’d done that evening was love him as best she knew how.

Instead she simply stayed there with him a little longer, reminding him with the occasional brush of her lips or gentle caress that she wasn’t going anywhere. His support, his love, had always been unconditional, come without any strings attached, and she returned it in kind, not because he asked her to, but because she wanted to more than she’d ever wanted anything in her life.


	82. Chapter 82

Thursday morning didn’t feel real.

Piper hadn’t slept. She’d eventually made her way home and, instead of going to bed, just curled up on the couch to cry. 

Every time she closed her eyes Piper saw one thing, a nightmare that hadn’t reared its ugly head in years, the image of her mother that night she’d died. It seared itself to her eyelids as if she’d seen it for the first time that very evening, fresh and somehow even more painful than it had been all those years ago when she had been too young to fully grasp what she was seeing.

A text from Annabeth asking if everything was alright had come while Piper had been on her way home, but she left it on read. She didn’t know how to reply, more than anything. Her mind was inundated with everything she’d seen in that file, too overwhelmed to think of actual words or ways to explain it all.

Knowing that information wasn’t her place, and yet there she sat, cursed with knowledge of everything the people she cared about wanted to hide, every last detail of their lives and then some. While she hadn’t done it on purpose, the knowing still felt like a betrayal of trust, an invasion of privacy. She wasn’t sure how she would be able to look any of them in the eye again, every day, each conversation and smile a lie of omission, no matter how much she managed to make herself forget.

So much of it concerned her, though. Piper’s mind kept circling back to the information about Percy, not because it made her think less of him, but because suddenly she worried about how easily someone else might dig it up. In a few short weeks he’d be heading to competition, then he’d step onto the international stage. Hungry reporters would be searching, circling like sharks smelling blood, for any hint of gossip they could find to earn themselves a front page headline. He’d be exposed, vulnerable, even without the threat Jove Grace had so clearly made.

Tristan’s history worried Piper, too. Just one of those rumors getting out could ruin his career completely. People had been waiting for the chance to bring him down since his first major role. If there were any whispers of shady dealings or inappropriate relationships, everything he’d worked for – everything he’d sacrificed his relationship with Piper for – could be lost. Maybe she should have wanted him to face those consequences, but she didn’t. Despite all the ways he’d disappointed her, broken her heart, over the years, she still loved him. Loving him meant she wanted to protect him.

None of it compared to her fear for Jason, though. 

The more she thought about it, the more sure she became it would break him to watch his own father destroy the people around him in an especially twisted attempt at controlling yet another aspect of his life. Selfishly, she wanted to just let the worst happen, to fight through it, but she could only imagine Jason being a shell of himself when all was said and done. He would isolate himself from his friends in shame, maybe even isolate himself from _her_. Facing this horror head on would be pointless, end in everyone hurt, and everything lost, just the same.

Some part of her knew she should be telling her friends about what had happened the night before, Annabeth in particular. They would want to know, all of them, but she couldn’t see how telling anyone would help or make a difference. With a bitter taste in her mouth she realized, for the first time, she understood a little of why Annabeth had kept the secret of Luke so long. 

That alone should have been enough to make Piper see the irrationality of keeping _this_ secret. Annabeth keeping her secret had not done anyone any good. It had put a strain on their relationship, prevented Annabeth from living life to the fullest for years, left her alone to suffer when help could and should have been right there at her fingertips. 

Piper keeping this secret wouldn’t be good for anyone, either. Like it had been for Annabeth, help was right there at Piper’s fingertips, a call or text away. Between the emotional upheaval and Piper’s mind addled state from the lack of sleep, there was no seeing sense, only guilt and hopelessness and defeat.

She did not acknowledge the tickle in the back of her mind, a whisper of doubt so deeply ingrained in her identity it had become almost second nature to simultaneously ignore it while allowing it to shape every decision she made. Telling Jason the truth came with a very prominent risk. He could hear the stakes and decide the fight was not worth it – that _she_ was not worth fighting for. That perpetually opened wound of unworthiness had already been prodded by Jove’s comments the night before, leaving it especially vulnerable. Piper should have been aware of it, taken into account the way it distorted her own judgment, but she had become too well practiced at burying that pain.

All night she’d struggled to think of a solution, but every idea that came to mind either seemed impossible or just plain wouldn’t work. No escape existed, Jove had been thorough enough to see to that. 

The most Piper could hope was to give Jason a sufficient excuse, one that would keep him in the dark and safe from further meddling or attacks from his father, put the blame on her, and allow him to move on. She would keep this burden, the true bitterness of their reality, to herself. It was the last thing she could do for him, the last way she could love him, letting him go and giving him his best chance at happiness on the other side.

Longer than was probably good for her, Piper sat there and imagined what his other side would look like. Her mind played through a lifetime – a few months of mourning their relationship, some time spent trying to once again navigate singleness, but then Jason would meet someone wonderful, beautiful and dignified. He’d meet someone who was actually good enough for him, from the proper background to help him tackle the challenges in his future, not a broken, selfish and immature fool. Piper could so perfectly picture it, Jason getting married, having his own family. He’d correct his parents’ mistakes, be an amazing father, raise kids who would use the privilege passed on to them to do great things and change the world.

Imagining all that came easy to her because, without realizing it, Piper had begun to imagine herself in that future with him. Cutting herself out, pasting some other, faceless woman in her place, didn’t take much work. Even if it was without her, she took some comfort in the idea of him being happy.

For all that foresight, she couldn’t see her own future as anything beyond that couch, the tears streaming down her face, the nightmare behind her eyes, and the gnawing emptiness in the pit of her stomach that went far beyond physical hunger.

It wasn’t exactly strength Piper finally mustered around noon, but she knew it needed to be done and forced herself to pull out her phone to text Jason. Every letter made her nauseous, her fingers shaking so terribly she had to go back and retype almost every single letter until she’d managed to type out the short and succinct message.

 **PIPER (12:07PM)**  
can you come over? we need to talk

If she’d bothered to eat anything since the night before, Piper likely would have thrown up after she sent the message. Thankfully her stomach remained empty and she doubted the nausea had the strength to force out bile. She’d done enough puking for a lifetime already.

When Jason arrived, Piper had taken up residence in the kitchen. It felt like the safest place, though she couldn’t pinpoint why. Memories of him filled the whole apartment. There wasn’t a single place she could sit or look and not be reminded of him, but the kitchen was as neutral as spaces came, and it gave her the natural barrier of an island counter to put between them. Distance was important. She didn’t trust herself to get too close to him.

Despite all the ways Jason had been oblivious and dense over the months they’d been together, it seemed from the moment he walked in that he knew exactly what her text had meant. Those words, she supposed, were their own kind of universal language. His lips were set into a frown, his face and eyes otherwise expressionless. He left that kitchen counter between them as well, his hands in his pockets as he looked at her, searched her face for some hint of hope, a signal he misunderstood her intentions. There were none to be found, though.

“How is Reyna?” Piper asked first, her heart aching, desperate to put off the worst of it for even a minute or two longer.

Jason swallowed hard and replied, clipped and guarded, “Better. She took the day off work, called Hazel and they talked for a bit. She was about to call Percy when I left, too.”

“Good,” she said, breathless, fighting to keep her own raging emotions at bay. She meant that, it _was_ good, it gave her a little relief. At least there was something not terrible happening that day for people she cared about.

“That’s not why you wanted to talk, though, is it?” he asked.

Looking at him became difficult. This wasn’t the Jason she wanted to remember. Piper wanted to remember the way he smiled at her first thing after waking up, his scar stretching along with the shape of his lips, the sunlight through her window turning his hair white. She wanted to remember the way he would just barely pout while he read, his eyes intense as he gave whatever he was reading his full attention no matter what the content. She wanted to remember the flicker in his eyes before he kissed her, bright and impossibly blue. She wanted to remember the way his shoulders relaxed when she slipped her arms around him, as if just her touch could ease the burdens he carried. She wanted to remember pink cheeks and shy grins and the way he laughed when she complained about the most inconsequential things. 

This would be the image most deeply ingrained in her mind, though – this blank, cold, defensive Jason, full of fear. A complete stranger.

“No,” Piper answered, her own voice as unfamiliar as Jason’s expression. Without another word, she fished Jason’s apartment key out of her dress’s pocket and placed it on the island counter. She had to bite back her nausea again as she pushed it toward him, then she forced herself to look him in the eye. “I realized last night that I can’t do this. I was wrong. I’m not cut out for–” she blinked several times, her mouth filled with sand, tongue heavy from the force of her lie, all those images of the future she had pictured for them flashing through her mind, “–for what our life would be. We should end things here, before it goes any further.”

She wasn’t sure what she expected, what she wanted from him. Hoping he’d fight her, fight for them, was selfish considering nothing he could say would change her mind. Arguing, dragging it out, would have only hurt them both that much more. Still, it stung when instead of so much as uttering a single objection, Jason’s shoulders simply slouched.

The time it took him to pull his keys out of his own pocket and take her apartment key off the ring could have been an eternity. With every second she had to fight against her own heart, desperate to call it all off. It screamed that there had to be a way, something she hadn’t thought of, a solution they could come up with _together_ – but if Jason wouldn’t even object to this generic excuse she gave him, Piper could only think he wouldn’t want to fight if he knew the truth, either.

When he set her key on the counter and collected his own, though, there was no going back. At least, she told herself there was no going back.

They were done.

“Should I get my things?” he asked, his eyes averting her gaze just as desperately as hers avoided his.

“No, I’ll get them for you,” she answered, scared to have him in the apartment even a second longer than was completely necessary. Her resolve was weak and she knew having to watch him collect his possessions, the little pieces of him that had so naturally fit into her life and spaces, would dissolve it entirely. “I’ll have Percy give them to Hazel or Frank to pass along.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jason nod. “Right. I’ll do the same with what you left at my place.”

Piper nodded as well, wrapping her arms around herself. A chill went through her, reaching her bones and making them cry out painful objections. The apartment was plenty warm, stuffy even, as the late spring sun blanketed it in warmth, but she’d never felt quite so cold.

“Goodbye, Jason,” she forced herself to say, managing to do the impossible and look him in the eye.

His defenses seemed to fail him in that moment, emotions playing across his face in quick succession, his eyes desperate as they searched her one last time in the hope of finding some kind of explanation other than the one she’d given him. She wouldn’t allow him to find one, though, not beyond what she’d already said. Jason had been scared this moment would come, she knew, and she hoped his own doubts and insecurities would be enough to make him believe her lie.

Hoping that, exploiting what he’d trusted her enough to confide, made her feel like the most horrible person who had ever lived. She was. She deserved to feel that way.

It seemed for a second, after he’d reigned his emotions back in, that he was going to walk away without another word. Jason hesitated, his brow furrowing and his eyes narrowing in the way she’d long learned meant he was struggling to find the right words to express himself. Piper braced herself, tried to summon some semblance of strength to face whatever he might say. She would accept his bitterness, his anger, any and all indignation.

When he finally spoke, though, he looked defeated and all he said was, “Goodbye, Piper.”

Somehow, though she didn’t know how she managed it, Piper held in her tears until Jason left. As soon as the door shut behind him she felt herself go weak, forced to lean on the counter as her tears spilled over. A sob ripped through her chest and she practically choked on it.

The only word to describe the way she felt was empty. Not broken, not hurting, hollow.

Her phone lay there on the counter. Annabeth was a text message away – help at her fingertips, unconditional, ready to run to her at a moment’s notice – but the void inside Piper made it impossible to even think of what she might say. Even if she did find the words to call for help, it would only result in questions Piper wasn’t ready or prepared to answer. Looking Jason in the eye and lying had been the hardest thing she’d ever done. The idea of doing the same to Annabeth was too much to handle at the moment.

Percy probably still needed Annabeth, too, after the night they’d had and with Reyna’s phone call to face. Piper didn’t want to take Annabeth from him when this pain was her own stupid fault. The most horrible person who had ever lived deserved to face her suffering alone. Percy did not.

She eased herself onto the kitchen floor, the cool tile only furthering the inexplicable chill that had seeped all the way to her bones, and wept until she’d run out of tears and every muscle in her body somehow ached from the exertion.


	83. Chapter 83

Annabeth tried not to be worried. 

It wasn’t unusual for her not to hear from Piper for whole days. Once they’d gone almost an entire week without saying a word to each other, not even because they were mad, just because they’d both been busy, and they _lived together_. Less than twenty-four hours without a text message was nothing. Their respective groups from the night before had been in contact plenty over the course of the morning, giving no reason for Annabeth to think anything bad had happened. Piper would have no reason to worry, either, and was probably just too distracted by whatever her morning entailed to think about texting Annabeth back.

That morning Reyna had called to talk to Hazel. While no one had eavesdropped on the conversation (Leo had tried, dragged away from Hazel’s closed bedroom door by a very distraught Cal), Hazel had reported after that Reyna wasn’t angry at her and they were going to meet for lunch that weekend to talk more. Everyone had been a little relieved to hear that news, some of the residual tension they were all feeling dissipating.

Stranger, though, shortly after Reyna had called _Percy_. Annabeth had been present for the conversation, holding his hand through it, only hearing Percy’s side of things. It had been a tense, five minute conversation, with apologies said on both sides. Most of those apologies were admittedly Reyna’s, but Percy wouldn’t have been Percy if he hadn’t thought he still had anything to be sorry for. When he’d hung up the phone, Percy had been a little shaken, but the hopeful look in his eye told Annabeth he was glad that, just maybe, he and Reyna were going to be able to tolerate being in the same room moving forward.

Those were good things. There should have been nothing to worry about. Still, every time Annabeth picked up her phone and saw no new messages from her best friend, a fresh wave of dread washed over her.

When Annabeth had expressed her concern to Percy, he’d said, “You’re sensing a disturbance in the Force,” and she’d thrown a pillow at him even though he insisted he wasn’t joking. 

As the hours passed and her anxiety only worsened, she wondered if maybe Percy was right. She’d always thought Piper had a sixth sense where she was concerned. Maybe she had one for Piper, too. With that in mind, in the mid-afternoon, she finally gave in and called Piper, only to get no answer. She called again, and again she was sent to voicemail. 

After a third unanswered call, sick to her stomach, Annabeth called Jason instead. He picked up on the second ring, with a crestfallen, “Hey.”

“Are you guys okay? Piper isn’t answering her phone,” she said, heart beginning to race, her gaze flickering to Percy. They were both up in his room while he got ready to head to training after taking the morning off. He caught her eyes and quirked his head to one side in curiosity, but said nothing.

Jason stayed silent on the other end for several seconds. _Too long_ , Annabeth thought. If everything was alright he would assure her without hesitation. The panic that had been building in her all morning, the feeling that something was inexplicably _wrong_ , came to a head, and instinctively she reached out for Percy. He was there in an instant, his arms around her and brow furrowed, still waiting for her to be able to tell him what was happening.

“She’s not here,” Jason finally replied, taking on a strange, distant tone. “I think she’s at your place.”

“You’re alright, though?” Annabeth asked, her stomach sinking so low it felt like it was going to drop right out of her body and hit the floor. His tone, the way he kept hesitating to answer, was enough for her to know that, no, they were not alright. Until he said as much, though, she refused to believe it.

Again, Jason remained quiet too long. Even Percy seemed to notice something off about the way Jason was acting, because he grew impatient and signaled for Annabeth to give him the phone. She passed it over. Percy got to his feet and asked, “What’s going on, Grace?” as soon as he pressed the phone to his ear.

Powerless, Annabeth watched Percy’s expression darken, sending up a prayer to any deity who might be listening that Piper be alright, safe. He finally nodded, as if Jason could see it. “Yeah. I got it. We’ll be there soon.”

“What did he say?” she asked when Percy hung up and handed her phone back.

Percy struggled for a few seconds to find the words, and when he finally spoke, his answer might as well have been some alien language for how much sense it made. “He said Piper broke up with him.”

They were out the door and on the road not five minutes later. As they made their way through traffic Annabeth stared out the window, chewing on her cheek and trying to figure out what the hell could be going on. There was no reason for Jason to have lied, but she couldn’t wrap her mind around the words. No, she didn’t _want_ to wrap her mind around the words.

That damned mind of hers, though, insisted on putting the pieces together whether she wanted it to or not.

When they arrived at her apartment, the front door was unlocked. They never left the door unlocked, especially not when one of them was home alone. At first, stepping into the apartment, there were no signs of Piper. Instinctively, Annabeth started down the hall toward Piper’s room, but she didn’t make it far before freezing in her tracks.

Still wearing her dress from the day before, her face streaked with running makeup and swollen from crying, Piper laid on the kitchen floor in a heap. Her eyes were closed, her breaths shallow and even, signaling she was sleeping. The sight made a lump form in Annabeth’s throat and the threat of tears begin to burn behind her eyes. She took one step toward the kitchen and spotted a single silver key sitting on the island counter – a key to their apartment, still so new it shined, identical to the copy Annabeth had made for Percy a few months ago. Any irrational hope Annabeth had sheltered about Jason somehow being mistaken shattered.

All her own feelings went on lock down in the blink of an eye. There was no time or space for them. Instead she turned to Percy, as calm and commanding as she had been the night before when trying to get everyone home from The Grove. “Could you get her to bed, please? Try not to wake her.”

A quick glance at him told Annabeth his own worry was mounting, but Percy nodded once and moved without questioning her. She went ahead of him, getting to Piper’s room first and pulling back the comforter to make space, then started pulling a change of clothes out of Piper’s dresser. Annabeth was in the bathroom when Percy deposited Piper in bed, collecting what she’d need to remove the mess of makeup on Piper’s face.

“What else can I do?” he asked, voice soft, but giving her the space she needed to move and tend to Piper.

Annabeth shook her head. “Just wait in the living room? I’ll get her changed and cleaned up a little and then be back out.”

For a few more seconds Percy stood there, his eyes dripping with concern at the state they’d found Piper in, but then he nodded. Before he left, he stopped to press a kiss to the side of Annabeth’s head, lingering to gently nuzzle his nose into her hair. It amazed her how much stronger she felt after just that fleeting display of his affection.

Several times over the years Annabeth had managed to get a passed out Piper cleaned up and changed. It wasn’t exactly an easy task, but she’d never minded it. At least if Piper was home for Annabeth to take care of, it meant she was safe. Today, though, Annabeth minded. This wasn’t just some reckless, drunken blackout for the fun of it, an event Piper would be laughing about in a few hours. Something was _wrong_.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. _Wrong._ Annabeth had known it the entire day, from the moment she’d opened her eyes. She should have trusted her gut. If she had, she might have made it there to Piper’s side sooner.

Annabeth made quick enough work getting Piper out of her dress and into a t-shirt and shorts. A few times it seemed like Piper began to stir, but then her face would scrunch up in annoyance and she’d be asleep again. Even when Annabeth began to delicately dab at Piper’s face with makeup remover, Piper gave no real response. Soon enough, Piper’s face was at least clear of the remnants of her make up, not exactly clean, but Annabeth would take it.

For a few minutes after, Annabeth simply knelt next to the bed and watched Piper sleep. She brushed her fingers through Piper’s hair, traced Piper’s face with her fingers, listened to Piper’s steady breathing, especially thankful for that gentle sound. With the streaks cleaned up, and even with the puffiness, Annabeth could almost convince herself that Piper looked peaceful. In those minutes, with her best friend safe and tucked into bed, Annabeth let her own emotions out, tears spilling over and her heart aching so intensely it was as if it had been the one to break.

Percy was pacing in the living room when Annabeth finally wandered back out, but he stopped immediately to look up. “Did she say anything?”

“She’s out cold,” Annabeth replied, shaking her head. “Did Jason tell you anything else?”

“Just that she’d asked him to come over here earlier and broken up with him,” he answered with a shrug, his disbelief written plainly on his face. “Did you know she was planning this?”

Annabeth shook her head again, grasping just as desperately as Percy for straws to make sense of. “Before we went to bed Tuesday night she kept talking about plans for his birthday party. That’s over a month away. This…”

Already having put the pieces together, she wasn’t sure how much she should tell Percy. She trusted him, of course, but she didn’t want to betray Piper’s confidence. Carrying the burden herself, though, sounded like a terrible idea. Annabeth had done enough holding her tongue when things got hard over the years.

“She met with Jason’s dad last night,” Annabeth told him, wrapping her arms around herself, defensive in response to even thinking about Jove Grace. “I think he said or did something to her.”

“What could he have said?” Percy asked, and she knew from his tone and the disbelief still in his expression that he felt the same way she did – Piper wouldn’t have broken up with Jason under any circumstances short of duress.

That was exactly the problem. Annabeth wasn’t sure what Jason’s father could have said to push Piper to this extreme, either. There was one thing she did know, though, something she hadn’t bothered to tell anyone, something she hadn’t even bothered to think about for months. On the drive over that vivid memory had popped into her mind and had since kept replaying on a taunting, endless loop. She kicked herself now for having written it off so easily before.

“When I was in San Francisco, during the interview, I mentioned Jason in passing,” Annabeth began, speaking slowly as she thought through it again in real time. “After, Luke came up and told me, among the myriad of other shit he spewed, that I should stay away from the Grace family. He said nothing good ever came of associating with them.”

“That was Luke, though,” Percy objected, his face contorting with barely contained disgust. “He’s an asshole and he’d say anything to throw you off. He was probably just trying to figure out a way to isolate you from your friends or some other messed up bullshit.”

“He was different when he said it,” she insisted, remembering the way Luke’s carefully crafted persona had cracked as he’d spoken what he truly seemed to consider a warning, the way he spat the words, hateful and irate. “The intensity, the anger I saw on his face, Percy… That was _real_ and it was, honestly, a little frightening. I shrugged it off, and with everything else that happened that afternoon I didn’t think much about it after, but I’m starting to think he might have, in some fucked up way, actually been concerned.”

“So, what? You think Jason has been a horrible person this whole time and we just didn’t notice?” Percy asked, and from the way his voice had turned hard and his eyes narrowed, she could tell he was becoming upset.

“Of course not,” Annabeth replied, rolling her eyes at the absurdity. They knew who Jason was. His goodness, his kindness, were not things she would ever question. He had no more capacity to be horrible than Percy or Piper, family name be damned.

“Then what?” Percy pressed.

“Considering all this stuff happening with Jason’s family the last few months, maybe we underestimated what they were capable of,” she explained, trying to reign in her annoyance about how hostile he’d suddenly become over what she’d intended to be a small part of a bigger theory. Annabeth wanted to bounce ideas off him, not argue about _Luke_. “If Luke knows something about them–”

“Do you want to call him up, ask what he thinks?” Percy interrupted.

The breath went out of her, Annabeth shocked that _this_ was what Percy chose to focus on when there were plenty of other, more important issues, to be dealt with. Her attention needed to be on Piper, on what was happening then and there. She didn’t have the time or energy to argue with him about a non-issue. The idea that she’d ever want to reach out to Luke, even if he _did_ know something about the Grace family, was crazier even than the concept of Piper breaking up with Jason. No matter how badly she wanted to be armed with information, it would never be worth that much to her. Plenty other avenues for hunting down answers existed.

Something in her expression – the slack jawed gaping, the shine of her eyes trying to hold back more tears – must have reached Percy, because he sighed and shook his head. “I’m sorry. This isn’t… you don’t need this right now.”

“All I meant,” she said, trying to soften her tone, desperate for him to understand, “is that–”

“That we should be worried. That we should be ready for whatever comes next,” Percy said, a little sheepish. Usually she would be annoyed by being interrupted, especially for a second time in such quick succession, but she sensed in this case he was trying to tell her he understood. He was aware he’d momentarily fixated on the wrong thing and truly felt sorry for it, didn’t need her to explain.

“And I’m scared,” Annabeth added, her voice small, encompassing every little fear she’d been harboring since waking up to no text from Piper that morning, and all the massive fears beginning to take root in regards to the future they faced. While she couldn’t explain it, wasn’t sure she wanted to dig too deep into finding out why, Annabeth felt distinctly _unsafe_. Exposed. Vulnerable.

Percy stayed put where he stood a few feet away, but he held his arms out to her. He wasn’t going to step into her space if she was upset with him, but he offered his comfort just the same. Without an ounce of hesitation, even though she _was_ still a little upset he’d so irrationally lost his cool, she went to him, slipping her arms around his waist and burying her face in his chest. His arms were firm and reassuring. As long as she was there in his embrace nothing could ever touch her. If only she could find a way to wrap everyone else they loved up in that same safety, Percy included.

“Want me to call Coach and cancel today?” he asked, his face pressed to the top of her head.

“Absolutely not,” she replied without hesitating, though she did tighten her hold on him. “You already skipped yesterday for graduation, you can’t miss another day. That’s too important. Hold me just a little longer and then I’ll be okay.”

He laughed, chest rumbling as he held her a little closer in return. “You’re more important than swimming will ever be, Beth,” he said softly, a smile in his voice. 

That was, of course, beside the point. Percy could do nothing for her at the apartment, at least until they knew more. Later, when he had finished for the night and after Annabeth had a chance to talk to Piper, she had no doubt she would need the safety of his arms once again. Until then, she wouldn’t keep him from the work he needed to do.

Annabeth took a deep breath, letting his scent and warmth and solidity overwhelm her senses and soothe her. She loved it, the way his very presence made the world a better place. She loved him.

“I’ll text you any updates when I have them,” she finally said, firm and decisive. Pulling herself away from him took more effort in that moment than she would ever admit, but she did it.

“Let me know if you need anything,” he ordered, his stern tone making her smile, and Annabeth nodded in reply. Watching him collect his dufflebag and slip his shoes back on made her heart ache, but as much as she hated the prospect of being without him, she knew letting him go was the right call.

At the door he stopped, turned to look back at her. “If you think it’s what we need to do for Piper and Jason, I won’t object to calling him,” he said, the words clearly paining him but spoken with sincerity just the same. No need for Percy to expand on who was meant by _him _. Annabeth knew.__

__“I would rather throw myself into the deepest pit of hell than call him, Percy,” Annabeth said with a heavy sigh. “We’ll figure it out some other way, together, you and me.”_ _

__Percy smiled, and it was ridiculous how easily that smile could still set her heart racing, even when everything else in the world felt like it was falling apart. “You and me,” he repeated with a nod, then he was out the door._ _

__Growing restless the instant he had left, Annabeth grabbed her sketchbook from her bedroom and went to sit in bed with Piper. She wanted to be there when Piper woke up, no matter how long that meant waiting. Distracted by her own thoughts and concerns, she wasn’t exactly in a state to be working on sketches, but the weight of her favorite pencil in her hand provided a small degree of comfort. It was normal, constant, unchanged by time or the madness of the world around her._ _

__Instead of a building, concept or design, Annabeth found herself glancing over at Piper’s slumbering face and beginning to sketch. Over the years Annabeth had taken several art classes to improve her drawing skills. Piper had been the subject of several pieces and projects for Annabeth’s portfolios in those courses, to the point she’d joked about Piper being her muse. Sketching Piper again that afternoon proved to be yet another source of comforting familiarity. She had never been as good with people as buildings, but in that moment Annabeth wasn’t worried about perfection, just grasping for relief._ _

__The minutes turned into hours, Annabeth managing to silence her raging mind and get lost in the work, in capturing the slope of Piper’s nose and the fullness of Piper’s eyelashes, until the light outside began to fade and she had to turn on the bedside lamp to see properly._ _

__It hadn’t happened in years, but Annabeth recognized the way Piper began to thrash beside her almost instantly. A second later, before she even had a chance to react, the screaming started. Annabeth threw her sketchpad and pencil aside without thought, as if they were trash and not two of her most prized possessions. Compared to Piper they were nothing, and Annabeth’s hands were needed for wrapping Piper up._ _

__“It was just a dream,” Annabeth said soothingly, though she was shaking almost as much as Piper, those trembling fingers stroking Piper’s hair. “It’s okay, you were just dreaming. I’m here. I’ve got you.”_ _

__Piper’s subsequent cries were muffled into Annabeth’s shoulder as they slowly subsided. Her fingers curled into Annabeth’s shirt, holding on for dear life. As the screaming died down, the piercing sound turned to sobs. Annabeth just held Piper closer while she wept._ _

__They’d done this countless times over the years, even before Annabeth had known what the nightmares were about. The first time had been a few months into their first semester together in sixth grade, shortly after Parent’s Day had eased the awkwardness between the new roommates and established the bond that would last the rest of their lives. It had been the most terrifying experience of young Annabeth’s life, being shocked awake by that blood curdling scream, but she’d run to Piper’s side without hesitation all the same._ _

__Several more times that same week the nightmares returned, though Piper didn’t always wake up screaming. Sometimes she’d simply startle awake in a cold sweat instead. Eventually the nightmares would subsist, only to return within a few months for another week or two of screaming and cold sweats and sleepless nights._ _

__Once, after the school administration had realized the nightmares were recurring, they’d tried to separate Piper and Annabeth, give Piper her own room so no other students would be disrupted. Twelve year old Annabeth putting her foot down and refusing to be moved had given them such a headache they finally gave up. Leaving Piper _alone_ with those nightmares was unfathomable from the very start. The occasional bad night’s sleep had always been an easy sacrifice to make for the sake of her friend._ _

__A few times over those first few years, Annabeth had asked Piper about them, not to be nosy, but out of concern. Piper’s hesitance to confide had frustrated her, but Annabeth tried her best to be understanding and patient. She was never as good at understanding and patience as Piper, so the job had not come easily. Still, Annabeth had managed._ _

__Even all those years later, Annabeth remembered the day Piper had finally told her story vividly – how small Piper’s usually roaring voice had become, the tears that had streamed freely down her face, her hand shaking even as it held Annabeth’s. Annabeth would never understand how Piper had managed to go on after what she’d seen the night her mother died, let alone live a life so bright and fearless. She never let those nightmares stop her, never let a bad night ruin the day that followed or result in her missing out on even the smallest degree of happiness._ _

__The years made Piper’s fits come fewer and farther between, and more than once Annabeth had been heartbroken to think how often they must have happened when she’d been small, if they’d still been so prevalent even when Annabeth met her. Shortly after moving into their apartment there in New York, after the two of them had made the shell of a house into their first proper home, the nightmares had stopped altogether._ _

__Annabeth knew better than to think it was that simple to move past trauma, but considering it had been close to four years since the last nightmare, she’d long given in to hope that they were gone for good. She didn’t even remember the last time she had so much as _thought_ about those nightmares – maybe when they’d been in Malibu, so worried about all Piper had been going through the day of the wedding. Even that hadn’t been enough to bring those haunting, horrible images back to Piper’s sleeping hours, though._ _

__There was no way this could be a coincidence, that the nightmares would return randomly on the same day Piper had broken up with Jason, the day after Piper had been confronted by his father._ _

__Disoriented and still crying, Piper pulled herself back enough to be able to look Annabeth in the eye and sniffled loudly. “How did I get to bed?”_ _

__“Percy and I found you passed out on the kitchen floor,” Annabeth explained as gently as possible, thankful that the tremor in her hands had subsided. “He carried you in and I got you changed, cleaned you up.”_ _

__Nodding, Piper struggled to regain control of her breathing through the sobs. It took a couple more minutes, and Annabeth continued to hold her close. Annabeth would stay there in bed, holding Piper, until the end of the world if necessary._ _

__“How long have I been asleep?” Piper finally asked, her voice once again muffled as she hid herself in Annabeth’s shoulder._ _

__“I’m not sure,” Annabeth answered honestly, dabbing under Piper’s eyes with the back of her index finger. “We found you just after three. It’s past seven right now.”_ _

__Piper nodded again, her fingers curling into the back of Annabeth’s shirt as she clung tighter._ _

__The last thing Annabeth wanted to do was make the situation worse, but she needed answers and so, once Piper seemed to have calmed sufficiently, she bit the bullet. “We talked to Jason, Piper. Why didn’t you call?”_ _

__“I didn’t know what I’d say,” Piper answered, her voice so quiet that the muffling would have made her impossible to hear were she not only inches from Annabeth’s ear._ _

___Literally anything_ , Annabeth wanted to say, but she swallowed the sarcastic response to keep from sounding angry. She _was_ a little angry. The fact Piper hadn’t immediately called hurt, that she could admit to herself, but this was not the moment for Annabeth’s own feelings. Instead she put as much comfort into her voice as she could muster. “What happened? What did his dad say to you?”_ _

__Piper pushed herself away and settled against the headboard, staring off into the distance. Tears still streamed down her face, silently, and every breath came with a labored shudder through her mouth, nose blocked. Annabeth couldn’t even begin to imagine the depth of Piper’s pain. Finally, weakly, Piper answered, “He explained what would be expected of me as Jason’s partner. I realized I couldn’t handle it.”_ _

__Instinct made Annabeth want to call bullshit instantly, but one look at Piper made all of Annabeth’s resolve go up in smoke. As Piper stared, clearly waiting to see if Annabeth would accept the excuse, her eyes shone with just as much fear as pain. Whatever had happened, whatever Jason’s father had said to her the night before, it had scared her. Every fiber of Annabeth’s being screamed to know what could inspire such an expression, but that desire had to be swallowed down. Pushing Piper into giving an answer wouldn’t do her any good. Annabeth would have to wait, to make due with limited information, until Piper was ready to tell the whole truth._ _

__Understanding and patience. Annabeth’s great weaknesses. She would try to have them again._ _

__“Get back here,” Annabeth said softly, holding her arms out._ _

__Relief washed visibly over Piper and she scooted closer to Annabeth, letting herself be scooped into waiting arms and relaxing. They sat like that, together, until Piper had cried herself to sleep again. Annabeth remained long after, just holding on, mind in overdrive as she prepared herself for the threat she knew now loomed on the horizon._ _


	84. Chapter 84

Piper was okay. Really, she was. At least she could convince herself of as much. Kind of.

It had been four days since she’d broken up with Jason. The day after she had collected his things from the apartment, as promised, and sent them off with Percy to be passed along. The next day she’d heard everything had been safely delivered, but nothing else. Both days had been hard, and so had the one after. She’d done more crying in those three days alone than in all her adult life.

The nightmares persisted. At least once a night she screamed herself awake, and each time Annabeth would rush in from the other room and hold her until the sobbing stopped and Piper gathered the courage to try sleeping again. One night it happened three times and, after the third, Percy had shuffled into Piper’s room a few minutes behind Annabeth with a laptop in tow. Instead of bothering to try sleeping again, Annabeth put on _Legally Blonde_ and the three of them had curled up in bed together, Annabeth sandwiched between Piper and Percy. In any other circumstance that might have made Piper feel like a third wheel. That night it had been exactly what she needed.

She knew, realistically, the nightmares weren’t just going to magically go away again after a few days. If they were going to stop, she’d probably need professional help. That’s what it had required when she was younger, years of doctors and therapy and even a few attempts at sleep aids or other medication, and even then they’d continued into adulthood. For all the ways Tristan McLean had failed as a father, he’d at least succeeded in making sure Piper got the care she needed, even when money had been tight and they’d been stuck in that studio apartment, barely getting by.

They had more than enough money now and Piper was old enough to be responsible for herself. She knew better than to shrug off the importance of getting help, but getting help would mean having to admit to someone what had happened with Jason’s father. Even just with a doctor, she really was not ready to do that. The file she’d seen and everything in it needed to stay a secret buried as deeply as she could manage, quite possibly until the end of time.

Aside from the nightmares, though, Piper _was_ getting better. On day four she had yet to do any crying. Mostly that could be accredited to being distracted by lugging boxes and by Will Solace being Will Solace. Honestly, being sad became impossible when sunshine personified started teasing her every five minutes about only carrying the lightest boxes, acting as if nothing had changed since he’d last seen her Wednesday. Piper didn’t blame Annabeth or Percy for walking on eggshells around her. Probably she needed their delicate handling, especially at night. Still, it was nice change of pace to have some hint of normalcy.

Life kept going, even as hollowed out inside as Piper felt, whether she wanted it to or not, and she would not be left behind.

“Did you see the pictures of Mom?” Will asked, while they, along with Annabeth, were sitting around his stripped bare dorm room taking a short break. Moving out of a dorm shouldn’t have taken so long and so much physical labor, but by the nature of his major Will had more giant books than Piper had ever seen outside of a library. Worse than just owning them, Piper knew he’d _read_ most of them. Just the thought made her head hurt.

“I avoid pictures of our parents online at all costs, William,” she answered, glaring at him playfully.

The glare got no rise out of him, because he just grinned and pulled his phone out of his pocket. “She’s so big now it looks like she shouldn’t even be able to stand upright,” he said, handing it over so Piper could flip through a few images.

Naomi Solace had been a fairly petite woman, not even showing during her wedding when she’d been three months along. At eight months, she really had ballooned. The photos were paparazzi shots of Naomi out to eat with Tristan in LA, and Will had been right in saying she looked like she shouldn’t have been able to stand upright. She had become extremely front heavy, with the rest of her body remaining more or less unchanged in size. Piper couldn’t help huffing, not mocking, but full of a strange and surprising fondness. Naomi glowed unmistakably, and Tristan looked just as happy, even while being hounded by those photo vultures.

“God, she must be miserable,” Piper said, handing the phone to a very curious Annabeth who clearly wanted to see as well.

A flash of concern flickered across Will’s features, there and then gone. “She’s pretty happy, but her blood pressure’s been a little high the last few weeks. I keep telling her to take it easy, but she doesn’t know how to stop.”

“Are they concerned about it?” Annabeth asked, passing Will’s phone back to him.

“Her doctor put her on some medication and they’re keeping an eye on it, but I don’t think so,” he answered with a smile and a shake of his head. Piper got the impression he was holding back his own concerns, though. Naomi’s age made her pregnancy high risk automatically. Considering all the medical texts they’d been lugging around that morning, Will had probably kept himself well informed on all the potential things that could go wrong. Maybe moving came as a nice distraction for him, too.

Piper did her best to smile as she got back to her feet, smacking her hands against her thighs, but it probably came across more like a grimace. “Let’s get back to work before your roommate shows up. He really is a shithead and I’d rather not smell him again.”

It didn’t take them much longer to finish up, thankfully getting the last of Will’s possessions out of the room right as his roommate returned from wherever he’d been all morning. Sadly, that mean Piper _did_ have to smell the guy one last time before they left – she bit back several comments she wanted to make about showers and deodorant and thought she deserved an award for the effort. Percy had given them the use of his car, but it was packed to bursting with boxes, so Annabeth drove while Piper and Will got themselves an Uber.

One major thing about their plans had changed since Wednesday night. Initially the plan had been for Will to stay with Piper and Annabeth until he found his own place, crashing on their couch. With her nightmares returned, Piper decided that would not work. The last thing she wanted was yet another person screamed awake on her account every night. Annabeth being there, Piper could handle, since Annabeth was Annabeth and had been going through this process with Piper for years. Percy being subjugated to it as well was bad enough, but he insisted it didn’t bother him and he wanted to be there both for Piper and Annabeth. Even though she didn’t like it much, she could respect that. Piper drew the line with Will, no matter what he said about it being fine.

They had considered just storing his boxes at the apartment while Will stayed at a hotel until he found a place. Money was no issue – it hadn’t been one for Piper since she’d been small, nor had it ever been for Will, and now that their parents had combined assets, the non-issue of money had become even more irrelevant. Staying at a hotel long term sucked, though, even a nice one, and they weren’t sure how long it would take to find Will a place of his own. Despite being the opposite of ideal, for a couple days that had seemed like the only option.

Percy came up with the solution, over breakfast the morning before moving day. Will could stay at the brownstone, crash in Percy’s room, since Percy could stay with Piper and Annabeth, until Leo moved out a few weeks later. Then Will could use Leo’s old room as long as he needed or wanted. It would be better than both a hotel _and_ the couch, since he could make himself at home and actually have his own space. A couple phone calls to Hazel and Will later, the last minute plan was set.

At the brownstone they at least no longer had to lug boxes on their own. Hazel greeted them with a wide smile and an eagerness to assist. Frank also assisted in the moving process, though he didn’t seem quite as eager about the whole situation. Every once in a while Piper would catch him staring at Will with a furrowed brow, notice him trying to carry more boxes or take the stairs two at a time to be faster. It didn’t take a genius to tell Frank was worried about the handsome (mostly) stranger moving in with his girlfriend.

“Where are Leo and Cal?” Piper finally asked, taking a short breather after delivering a box upstairs. They were making quick work of unloading with the addition of Hazel’s and Frank’s help, but if those two were skipping out, Piper was going to give them whacks upside their heads – well, probably just Leo. He seemed like the type who needed regular whacks upside the head, anyway.

“Montauk,” Hazel answered, not at all winded and without even a bead of sweat on her skin. Everyone else was drenched with it from a late May heatwave that had serendipitously chosen that day to hit. Hazel had to secretly be a superhero or something. “Cal is getting her stuff packed up and then they’re going to drag it all here until they leave in a couple weeks. Her parents were complaining that she should get moved out before summer hits, since they can use her old room for guests out now. This place is going to be box central for a while.”

Piper wrinkled her nose at that piece of information. “God, poor Cal. No wonder she wants to get out of there so bad.”

“Are they cool with me staying too?” Will asked, still understandably a little hesitant about the whole situation.

Hazel nodded, beaming. “Leo said he needs to make sure you’re cool enough to take his old room, but please ignore everything he says.”

“He’s also not even cool himself, so,” Frank added in passing before he lugged another box upstairs. As much as Hazel was _not_ sweating, Frank _was_ sweating, as if he were trying to make up for her sweatlessness all on his own. Sweat had already soaked through his shirt, the loose fabric of his baggy, long sleeved t-shirt clinging to him. Every time he was within her line of sight, Hazel stared, with distinct and shameless appreciation.

Huffing and puffing, probably second only to Frank in how sweaty she had become, Annabeth stepped in the front door with a box labeled KITCHEN in hand and weaved through the group of three standing in the entryway. “This is the last one, no need to hurry back out to help or anything! Take your time in the air conditioning! Please, enjoy yourselves!”

“If we’re done that means we can eat,” Piper replied, clapping loudly once.

“My treat, to thank you all for this help,” Will offered as Annabeth returned from depositing that last box on a counter.

In an obvious attempt at revenge for standing around at the end, Annabeth immediately wrapped sweaty arms around Piper and leaned down to wipe a gross, sweaty forehead on Piper’s shoulder. None of it bothered Piper, who just slipped her arms around Annabeth’s waist. “I think we should probably order in since this one looks like someone dipped her in slime, and smells a little like the subway in late July.”

“I have clothes upstairs. I can take a quick shower and change,” Annabeth replied, though she wiped her face on Piper’s shirt again for good measure.

Frank presented the real issue, though, as he descended the stairs dripping sweat. “Maybe I should go home and change,” he offered reluctantly, clearly aware of his own state, and lifted the collar of his shirt to wipe his face. Piper was pretty sure everyone noticed the way lifting his shirt exposed a small patch of skin on his stomach. Hazel stared yet again, very blatantly and wide eyed. It seemed they were back in the territory of Frank being absolutely oblivious to the obvious hearts in Hazel’s eyes.

“There’s probably something I can find you in Percy’s stuff,” Annabeth offered. The sparkle in her eye when she caught Piper’s attention had Piper assuming they’d both witnessed Hazel’s ogling. With that, Annabeth released Piper and moved toward the stairs to go back up with Frank.

Even though those two were getting changed and cleaned up, Piper, Hazel and Will decided it was too hot and they were too tired to bother going out for anything. Hazel knew Frank’s order from a place that apparently made amazing burrito bowls and Piper knew Annabeth well enough to guess at an order, so they didn’t wait for the other two to finish before deciding on what to eat. It had been days since Piper’s appetite had been big enough for anything more than a cup of yogurt or a piece of fruit at once. After hours of hard labor, stuffing her face sounded heavenly.

“So what’s the rule on, uh, overnight… visitors?” Will asked, once their lunch was ordered and they’d settled at the dining table to wait. A slight blush crept up on his face, only deepening when Annabeth chose that moment to return from cleaning up, another witness to his embarrassment.

Despite how awkwardly Will had delivered the question, Hazel was unfazed, simply leaning forward on her arms and pursing her lips thoughtfully. “I don’t think there’s ever been a rule, really. Percy was the only one who ever had anyone o–” she paused, her eyes going wide as she turned her head to look at Annabeth, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge and well within earshot.

“I’m perfectly aware Percy was not a virgin when we met, it’s okay,” Annabeth replied with a laugh, cracking her bottle open and joining the group at the table.

Hazel nodded, sheepish over the exchange, though again surprisingly not shy about the topic at hand. “Anyway, he would call or text us ahead if he was either bringing someone here or staying over somewhere else, just so we wouldn’t be surprised or worried in the morning. If that’s something you’re comfortable with, then I guess it would be the rule?”

“Sounds good,” Will confirmed, flashing Hazel a grin and relaxing into his chair. 

While he still planned to find his own place, Piper had a sneaking suspicion he might end up sticking around. The brownstone had a good, central location, a little far from Columbia, especially compared to campus housing, but not a difficult commute. Hazel and Percy (when he was there) were also significantly better roommates than some random fellow student would likely be.

Creaking stairs stole the attention of the group as Frank came back down, running a hand through his still wet crew cut. “Did you order food o–” He didn’t get to finish his question, because he noticed all eyes were on him and the cobalt blue Knicks t-shirt Annabeth had apparently found for him. What had started as a sharp intake of breath from Hazel in response to his appearance turned quickly into a coughing fit and Piper reached over to pat the poor thing on the back through it.

Piper had always known Frank was a handsome guy. She’d also always known, in some abstract fashion, that he spent just as much time in the gym as Jason and that meant he must have been at least equally as built, maybe even more so based on his bulk. Knowing those two things did not prepare her for the revelation of Frank Zhang in that shirt – and apparently it had not prepared Hazel, either.

The t-shirt must have been bigger than most of Percy’s others, because, even though Frank was broader all around and taller than Percy, it fit him perfectly. Not too tight, not as loose as what Frank usually wore, _actually_ perfectly. Piper had never seen him in a t-shirt without long sleeves before, and nothing so snug, but the short sleeves clung nicely to his biceps, the fabric stretching flatteringly across his chest. Frank wasn’t thin, the tight shirt clinging to and highlighting the curve of his stomach. Piper suspected that very thing was what Frank tried so desperately to hide under ill fitting clothes, the source of his continued insecurity after the years of bullying he’d suffered. He didn’t need to, though. 

Between that shirt and the small peek of stomach earlier, Piper figured Hazel’s entire world had just been flipped on its head. The slack jawed expression she wore as Frank awkwardly joined them in the dining room confirmed as much. Given a more flattering pair of jeans instead of the overly baggy ones he usually sported, Frank would transition from looking _good_ to looking _great_.

Annabeth was the only one around the table who managed to keep her cool. “That’s a nice color on you,” she said casually, reaching out to tug on the bottom hem of Frank’s shirt and straighten out a few wrinkles on it once he was close enough, a doting and affectionate gesture that surprised even Piper. “You should keep it. Looks better on you than it does on Percy.”

Receiving the compliment rendered Frank a speechless, and that speechlessness only compounded when he glanced over at Hazel, who nodded enthusiastically. “It looks _much_ better on you than Percy.”

“I wasn’t sure about it,” he admitted, his gaze flickering tentatively around the table. “At first I thought about putting my other shirt back on, but it was too gross.”

Deciding to add her voice to the chorus, knowing how much Frank had always struggled with confidence about his appearance, Piper said, “If even Annabeth is saying you look better in something than Percy, it means you look seriously good – and she and Hazel are both right. You’re hot.”

Redness blossomed in Frank’s face and spread like fire all the way to the tips of his ears. “W-what are we eating?” he asked to change the subject, ducking his head and sliding into the dining chair beside Hazel.

They filled him and Annabeth in on their choice of burrito bowls. Hazel made every excuse on the face of the planet to touch Frank’s arms and every time she did his cheeks began blazing again. Somewhere along the way Frank seemed to stop flashing cautious glares in Will’s direction, hopefully growing more comfortable with the new inhabitant of the brownstone. Being insecure also probably proved difficult in light of Hazel so clearly only having eyes for him. Very shamelessly focused eyes. She also only had hands for him. And, a few times, after which he blushed an even deeper shade of red because of their audience, lips.

Food came and they ate, continuing with easy conversation while Will got to know his new, maybe temporary or maybe not, roommate and her very hunky boyfriend.

Piper and Annabeth stuck around after lunch to help Will get further settled. He wouldn’t start any real unpacking until Leo left in a few weeks, but Annabeth made sure he had some closet space and a few drawers in Percy’s room so he didn’t have to live entirely out of boxes and suitcases. It was a relief to see him mostly comfortable in his new place. If he hadn’t been, Piper wouldn’t have known what to do with herself and her guilt.

In the early evening, when Piper and Annabeth finally decided to head home, Will pulled Piper aside. “Are you okay?”

Considering she’d felt more herself that day than she had in days, his question surprised Piper. “Mostly, yeah,” she answered, though the answer felt somewhat dishonest. _Okay_ was such a subjective state of being. In the name of transparency, she amended, “As okay as someone can be when they’re heartbroken and haven’t had a good night’s sleep in days.”

Will, unconvinced, studied her face for several seconds, until his scrutiny and silence had dragged on so long she finally rolled her eyes. “What, William?”

“It’s just that you haven’t smiled once today,” he answered, the concern in his expression only deepening. Piper wasn’t sure what to be more surprised about – the fact that she _hadn’t_ smiled all day, despite feeling better than she had in days and her active attempts to, or the fact that Will had apparently noticed and kept track.

Crossing her arms over her chest in a defensive move, Piper shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you.”

“Just… promise me something?” Will asked. When she sighed and nodded, he continued, “If you haven’t managed to smile by the end of the week, call me. We’ll go do something, raise some hell.”

“What if I don’t feel like raising hell?” Piper teased lightly, now all too aware of her own absent smile.

“Then I’ll pick up some ice cream from that place you love on Avenue A and we’ll find some show to binge watch,” he replied, managing to smile so wide he might as well have been doing it for both of them. 

Instead of answering, Piper heaved another sigh and pulled Will in for a hug goodbye, feeling immensely undeserving of his friendship, but accepting it just the same. She needed it more than he could possibly know.


	85. Chapter 85

Annabeth envisioned walking up to Jason’s door and pounding on it until he answered, pouring her anger and frustration into the physical act. Unfortunately, Jason was the kind of rich that meant he didn’t have a door for plebeians like herself to knock on. He had a doorman in a vast and sparkling lobby who looked at her, in her denim shorts and hoodie, with nose stuck up in the air and said, “I’ll call up,” when she asked to see Jason.

Usually she would call or text ahead, because that was the polite thing to do. However, Jason had stopped replying to messages. Specifically, Jason had stopped replying to _Percy’s_ messages, an impressive feat considering Percy had taken it upon himself to, as he put it, annoy Jason into responding. Annabeth did not know much about what that had entailed, just that Percy had been on his phone more often than she’d ever seen, and that there had been a lot of texts about eggs.

Percy seemed content with that indirect approach, depending on their friends to pass along updates on how Jason was holding up (not well, according to Frank, but slowly improving) and hoping Jason would reach out when he was ready. Annabeth, on the other hand, had reached her limit.

Every day she watched Piper suffer and struggle, never quite sure what mood each hour would have in store. Sometimes Piper was fine, almost normal. More often she became clingy, attached to Annabeth’s side quite literally and as much as possible. At least once a day, though, Piper holed up in her room and, whenever Annabeth would walk past her door, crying could be heard from inside. 

At one of those times Annabeth had become fed up and barged in, not to tell Piper off, but to be with her, hold her, comfort her. Annabeth discovered Piper sitting cross legged on her bed, staring at a photo. “I should have given it back to him, but I just couldn’t,” she had mumbled through her tears, the lump in her throat audible. When she’d offered the photo up to Annabeth, it had been immediately recognizable – Jason at two, in a tub with his sister and Reyna, the gift he’d brought along in apology after he’d left their party without first checking on Piper all those months ago.

Annabeth had sighed, climbed into Piper’s bed and pulled her close.

The nights, of course, were always worse than the days. Piper’s nightmares had remained a nightly occurrence, to the point Annabeth had stopped bothering to even go to sleep before Piper’s screams cut through the apartment. Only Annabeth, Percy and Will knew about the nightmares. They hadn’t even told Hazel and Leo about them when suggesting Will stay at the brownstone. Percy deftly avoided the subject by making it seem to them like he simply didn’t want Will to have to suffer through sleeping on a couch for an extended period of time when his own bed was so rarely used. They were going to keep it that way.

After a week of Piper crying and Percy glued to his phone in concern and Jason not saying _anything_ , Annabeth had decided to get her ass up and do something. She still, standing there in the Grace Tower lobby waiting for the doorman to decide whether she was worthy of ascending to Jason’s apartment, didn’t know exactly what she planned to say. When she saw Jason, then she would decide. _If_ she saw Jason. There was a non-zero chance he would tell the doorman to refuse her entry.

“Sorry to have kept you waiting, Miss Chase,” the doorman said as he hung up the phone at his desk. He rose to his feet and signaled toward the bank of elevators against the lobby’s back wall. His complete one-eighty told Annabeth she had not been refused entry. “Ms. Grace is coming down to greet you momentarily.”

 _Ms. Grace_. So, not Jason. Annabeth nodded and mumbled a halfhearted thanks, then moved toward the elevators to await whoever Ms. Grace might be. There were several people that name could belong to, between Jason’s sisters and nieces. Even some of his father’s ex-wives could potentially use the moniker. The last thing Annabeth needed was some terrifying former Grace matriarch storming into the lobby to tell her off.

Thankfully, _Ms. Grace_ was just Thalia.

“I can’t promise he’s going to see you,” Thalia said instead of a greeting, holding the elevator door open and waving Annabeth in.

Nodding her understanding, Annabeth slipped into the central elevator. “I figured there’s a chance he won’t.”

“And you still came?” Thalia asked, turning the key inserted on the bottom of the elevator panel and then frantically pounding on the _close doors_ button.

“Had to at least try,” Annabeth replied, leaning against the wall and crossing her arms over her chest.

Thalia nodded, studying Annabeth carefully for the few seconds it took the doors to finally close. The elevator shot up, dropping Annabeth’s stomach along the way. 

Annabeth had only met Thalia twice before – the night everyone went out to celebrate Piper’s new job, and then again at graduation. Piper spoke highly of her, as did Jason. She carried herself with confidence and a hint of arrogance, something Annabeth assumed intimidated most. It might have intimidated Annabeth, too, but a softness in Thalia’s gaze betrayed her concern. That concern was undoubtedly for Jason, but Annabeth couldn’t shake the feeling some of it extended to Piper as well.

“How’s she holding up?” Thalia finally asked, deceptively casual.

“Not great,” Annabeth decided to answer. Thalia’s sincerity and everything Annabeth had heard about Jason’s poor condition convinced her there was no point in skirting around the truth.

The elevator jerked to a stop, bringing Annabeth’s stomach back with it and leaving her lightheaded, so she wasn’t prepared for the loaded gun of a question Thalia posited as the doors opened. “You think it’s going to stick?”

That question had been haunting Annabeth for the last week as well. Based on the misery Piper continued to suffer, she couldn’t decide whether this breakup being final would be for the best or not. If her suspicions about Jove Grace’s involvement were right, she also didn’t think Piper would ever be content with the way things ended. It went the other way, too, though – if Jove had been the mastermind of this breakup, finding a way around him could be impossible. Piper and Jason could end up trapped in this closureless limbo, their suffering prolonged indefinitely. No matter how much Annabeth thought about it, and she had thought about it a lot over the last week, she couldn’t come to a proper conclusion.

“I’m not sure,” Annabeth said after a few seconds clearing her head, again deciding to err on the side of honesty. If nothing else, she knew Thalia had Jason’s best interests at heart. She wanted to believe Jason’s best interests and Piper’s were still aligned, which meant Thalia was on Piper’s side, too.

With another nod, Thalia stepped into the apartment and led Annabeth through the main rooms. Annabeth tried not to get distracted by the apartment’s interior, the completely open floor plan connecting dining room to kitchen to massive living room, the carved and detailed pillars dotting the space to act as support in lieu of walls, the floor to ceiling windows lining the back wall, open to a view of the city over which the building towered and a large balcony. She was not there to ogle, she was there to knock Jason over the head. With her words. Lovingly.

“Your best bet is to just barge in,” Thalia told her, pointing down one of the two halls off the main room. “His room is the third door on the left. If he’s locked it, just bang on it until he answers, but I doubt he has.”

Annabeth kind of hoped he had locked his door, just so she could pound on it the way she’d imagined, but she opted not to share that secret desire with Thalia. Instead she started right down the hall. At Jason’s door, she stopped to take a few centering breaths, shaking off the last of the nausea caused by that speedy elevator ride and preparing herself for the confrontation ahead of her. She did as Thalia advised – Annabeth barged right in.

Though she would have thought it impossible, Jason somehow looked worse than Piper. He sat reclined on his bed, directly across from the door, so as soon as Annabeth stepped in she was looking straight at him. Heavy bags hung discolored from his eyes and his face looked a little gaunt, supporting Frank’s report that he hadn’t been eating properly the last week. He wore his glasses, which alone was not entirely uncommon, but combined with the shaggy growth of his hair, the slump in his shoulders even as he sat, and the fact that he was dressed in sweats and a t-shirt in the early evening, the glasses were a clear sign of his struggle.

“Annabeth?” Jason asked, blinking as if to discern whether she were a figment of his imagination or not. “What are you doing here?”

Allowing the door to close behind her, Annabeth walked further into Jason’s massive bedroom and plopped herself down on the edge of his bed, completely uninvited. “What do you think I’m doing here?”

“I–” he started, then spent a few seconds stuck on the words, glancing at the papers arrayed on his bed, then to his phone, and finally back to where Annabeth had made herself so shamelessly at home in his room. Finally he shifted to sit up properly, legs crossed. “I assume you’re here because Percy’s upset about the texts.”

Instead of qualifying that with an answer, Annabeth just glared at Jason. The texts worried her, yes, but only because Jason refused to respond, and only because his silence made her worry about _him_. It insulted her that he would insinuate her motivations could only be centered around Percy. Jason was her friend, someone she loved, and if he thought that could no longer be true just because the circumstances of his relationship with Piper had changed, she would happily spend the next hour staring daggers at him.

“Why does everyone keep looking at me like that?” Jason grumbled, thankfully needing only a few seconds of dagger staring to understand he was an idiot.

“My guess would be because you keep saying stupid things,” she replied. Maybe Annabeth should have been a little more gentle with him, but Jason was getting enough coddling from Percy and Annabeth was tired from coddling Piper.

Jason heaved an exhausted sigh, slipping his hands under his glasses so he could rub his eyes for several seconds. “I’m just tired, Annabeth. You don’t have any idea what this is like.”

“ _I_ don’t have any idea what this is like?” she asked, huffing a laugh at the absurdity. “I’ve had my heart broken, Jason, and in much crueler fashion than this.”

“That was different,” he said, dropping his hands to his lap, though the flare of frustrated aggression in his voice had faded, replaced by a gentle and apologetic tone. Jason had not intended to pick at her old wounds, Annabeth knew that.

“Was it?” she pressed, easing off her own aggression as well. “I loved him, I really did, and I thought he loved me, too. It would be easier to tell myself I didn’t, because knowing you loved a person who never saw you as anything more than a play thing sucks, but it would also be a lie. At least you know Piper actually loves you.”

“Not enough to be honest with me,” he said, barely more than a whisper, but just loud enough for her ears to catch.

Annabeth studied him, the anguish written so plainly on his face it might as well have been the actual word tattooed across his forehead. Piper had lied to Annabeth, too, that much was certain. It had been Annabeth’s assumption the same lie had been fed to Jason, but as much as Jason loved and cared for Piper, he didn’t know her the way Annabeth did. He didn’t posses the same gauge for telling Piper’s truths from her lies. If Jason had bought the lie, a lie that fed into his own insecurities perfectly, Annabeth wouldn’t have blamed him. Piper had probably counted on him buying it for that very reason.

“You don’t believe she talked to your dad last Wednesday night?” Annabeth asked, keeping her eyes trained on Jason’s face as she carefully stepped into what could very well be dangerous territory.

Which part of the lie Jason took issue with made a difference. Annabeth believed Piper had spoken to Jove the night of graduation. Annabeth did not believe, even for a second, that anything he could have said to Piper about _expectations_ would change the way she felt about Jason. It was very possible Jason though the opposite – insecurities making it seem like Piper simply used Jove as an excuse to cut her losses without taking blame.

The question made Jason’s brow furrow, though. For a few seconds he stared straight ahead, that furrow and the frown he’d been wearing since the moment Annabeth walked in the door only deepening. When he finally looked up at Annabeth, anguish had been replaced by pure confusion. “She talked to my dad last Wednesday night?”

His confusion was returned in full, because Annabeth hadn’t considered Piper might not have told Jason that detail. “She didn’t tell you?”

“No,” he replied, his frown beginning to fade, lips twitching upward. “She talked to my dad last Wednesday night. You’re sure?”

“Positive,” Annabeth said, too surprised to feel bad about betraying Piper’s confidence. Actually, there was no reason for Annabeth to feel bad – Piper hadn’t said anything about there being a secret to be kept to begin with. “She texted me that night before she met with him and told me the day after that he’d explained to her what would be expected of her moving forward. She said she broke up with you because she couldn’t take the heat he put on her.”

“Which is bullshit,” Jason concluded and Annabeth smiled at his certainty.

“I thought as much,” she agreed.

She’d always liked Jason. Talking to him, having him around, was fun, but Annabeth had known plenty of fun people. Many of Piper’s past flames had been _fun_. From the very start Annabeth had been able to tell Jason was different, though. The day she first met him – when he’d come by the afternoon following his first date with Piper just to watch a _Planet of the Apes_ marathon – she’d been able to tell Jason was unlike all the others. There had been plenty of superficial differences, but they paled in comparison to the way he’d looked at Piper that afternoon. Annabeth knew in that moment she’d found a kindred spirit, someone who recognized Piper was special and planned to cherish the fact.

In those early weeks Annabeth had put much more stock in Jason than anyone else Piper had ever dated. Every step of the way he had proven that faith was not misplaced. Where others had belittled or discredited Piper, Jason lifted her up. Instead of complaining or making Piper feel guilty for her more annoying habits, Jason had found them endearing, if not also a little exasperating. Annabeth knew, better than possibly anyone else on the planet, that Piper was not perfect, but she was good and kind and filled with love to give to someone who could actually appreciate it.

Not all relationships were perfect. Not all relationships were meant to last, even good and healthy ones. Annabeth knew these things. An ending for Piper and Jason wouldn’t be the end of the world, as much as it would break Annabeth’s heart for both of them. _This_ ending was wrong, though. It was not their ending, it was Jove Grace’s ending. Knowing Jason recognized as much, even with a picture more limited than the one Annabeth had been working with, only reaffirmed what she had known about him from the beginning. Beneath all the love and trust and respect that had developed between them remained a fundamental truth – Annabeth genuinely _liked_ Jason.

He stared ahead again, his breathing becoming uneven from excitement, the exhaustion that had seemed to go bone deep when Annabeth arrived evaporating in the light of this revelation. “So, what did he really say to her?”

“That’s the million dollar question,” Annabeth replied, not bothering to hide her own irritation over the fact Piper hadn’t been honest with her, either. “There’s something else you should know.”

Looking back at her, Jason’s eyes danced with life, and Annabeth couldn’t help thinking she’d just handed him the missing puzzle piece he’d been searching for all week. He was hungry for another. “What is it?”

“Luke,” she said, shocked to be bringing him up voluntarily twice in the same conversation. “I forgot about it in the fallout of everything else that happened that weekend I went back to San Francisco, but he warned me to stay away from your family. Percy thinks he was just trying to throw me off–”

“Because Percy’s too biased to consider Luke’s capable of being genuine about anything,” Jason offered. The smile that had been threatening to spread across his face finally made its appearance, a small and begrudging thing, but dripping with affection for Annabeth’s dork of a boyfriend who had been texting him incessantly.

Annabeth couldn’t help laughing softly, because Jason had hit the proverbial nail on the head. “Piper would be, too.” 

_Not you, though_ , she left unsaid. 

It wasn’t a lack of bias exactly that gave Jason the ability to understand what Percy and Piper couldn’t. Annabeth remembered the way Jason’s eyes had flared in anger the night she’d first told him about Luke, the subtle flex of his forearms as he’d balled his hands into fists and the clenching of his jaw as he fought to hold back the string of obscenities she figured had been on the tip of his tongue. Jason hated Luke, too, but he had the ability to detach from that hatred for a clearer perspective.

“How old did you say Luke is?” Jason asked, his eyes still alight with curiosity and, she realized, hope.

“He’s twenty-nine now,” she replied, eager to give him any information that might help, even if she had no idea _how_ it was helping. “What does that have to do with Piper?”

Jason smiled, not a faint or unwitting smile, but a full and bright one that almost hid the bags under his eyes. “Maybe nothing. I don’t know yet.”

“Yet?” Annabeth repeated, eyebrows raised. That meant he thought it _did_ have something to do with Piper, or at least had the potential to.

“Yet,” he confirmed. He smiled a little wider, the gears in his head turning, and then threw himself off the bed and to his feet. Circling around to where she sat, he planted a kiss on her forehead and grinned at her as she stared back in stunned silence. “I need to talk to Thalia. I’ll text Percy when I’m done, I promise. Not about this, just, you know. I’ll apologize, but let him know I’m sorry all the same?”

For several seconds Annabeth floundered for words. “Wait, what?”

“You’ll be at Frank’s party next week, right?” Jason asked instead of offering any explanation. He had already moved to his door, stopping to look back at her.

“Of course,” she said. Even with all the uncertainty surrounding Jason and Piper, there had never been a question that Percy and Annabeth would be attending Frank’s twenty-second birthday party. Part of the reason Percy had been so willing to sit back and give Jason space was because he knew they would inevitably come face to face at that party. Jason wouldn’t have been able to avoid Percy forever.

“I’ll see you then,” he said, and with that he disappeared out the door, leaving Annabeth speechless, alone in his bedroom and, apparently, free to see herself out at her leisure. The word whiplash came to mind as she sat blinking at the empty space in Jason’s open doorway.

Never in her life had Annabeth given such an effective pep-talk, and she wasn’t entirely sure what she’d even said.


	86. Chapter 86

“Are you seriously putting this on right now?” Will asked, hanging upside down from an armchair in the living room, his feet hanging off the back and the tips of his hair brushing the floor. “Are we seriously about to watch this?”

Piper had a stomach full of ice cream, the couch entirely to herself, and a remote in her hand, ready to hit play. “Do you have a problem with Taylor Swift, William?”

“I mean, she’s fine, I’m just surprised you’re about to put her concert on,” he replied, one eyebrow raised. The way he sat, it looked like gravity itself was trying to drag that eyebrow down.

“Get out,” she said flatly, pointing toward the front door with her remote. “Get out of my house right now. I am literally never speaking to you again.”

Both of Will’s eyebrows shot up at that, a disbelieving smile pulling at his lips. “I said she’s fine!”

“ _Fine_ ,” Piper said, pointing her remote at him this time, accusingly. She could not believe she’d invited him into her life and her home for him to insult her so deeply. Without waiting for him to say another word, she hit play on the concert she’d pulled up to watch on Netflix. “What do you even listen to when you call the greatest songwriter of our time just _fine_?”

He shrugged, an awkward motion in his position. “I don’t really like music.”

“William, your mother is a _musician_ ,” Piper replied, her turn to be the one surprised. She felt it, the smile pulling at her lips, muscles responding instinctively to unadulterated amusement.

“And so was my dad,” he replied, as if these things were completely irrelevant. “It doesn’t bother me or anything, it just doesn’t do much for me. A good soundtrack in a film is great, but just music alone is like white noise to me.”

“Okay,” she said, the threat of her smile growing with every passing second. “So, what’s your ultimate movie soundtrack moment?”

Will didn’t even have to think about it. He smiled and answered, “Obviously it’s the Imperial March in _Star Wars_.”

She laughed. The urge came over her so suddenly she didn’t even realize it was happening until her head had fallen back and she fighting the urge to roll over and laugh into the back of the couch. Laughing felt good, a little like rising from the grave, and maybe what Will had said wasn’t even _that_ funny, but she didn’t care. Piper let herself laugh until she’d had her fill, then she looked over at Will hanging off the foot of that armchair and she laughed again.

“You’re a very mean person, you know that?” Will said, once Piper had managed to calm herself down to nothing more than a handful of giggles, but his smile told her he wasn’t offended. 

“I reserve the right to be mean to anyone who calls Taylor Swift _fine_ ,” she told him, still smiling, lighter than she’d been in two whole weeks. That wouldn’t last, but she’d cherish the sensation while she had it. The concert played on, more background noise than something they were actually watching, but the familiar sounds of songs she’d listened to a million times comforted her.

They were alone at the apartment because Annabeth and Percy had gone to Frank’s birthday party. Piper wanted to be there herself. She adored Frank. Going had sounded like a terrible idea, though. Just two weeks post-breakup, she knew she wasn’t ready to see Jason again, and she doubted he would be ready to see her. The last thing she ever wanted to do was make his own nephew’s birthday awkward for him. To take the sting off her disappointment over missing the celebration and to keep her company while Annabeth and Percy were gone, Will had dropped in to spend a very lazy Thursday night with her.

“Why Taylor Swift?” Will asked after a few minutes of silent concert watching.

“I just kind of always liked her,” Piper replied, head tilted to one side thoughtfully. “Back in high school people got on the kick that liking her was lame and being told what to like has always pissed me off, so I doubled down. For a couple years she was all I listened to, just to rub it in their faces. Even lost my virginity to one of her songs.”

“Not a single thing you just said surprised me,” he said, chuckling. “But now I’m going to need _that_ story – like did he put it on to impress you? Was it mood music?”

Piper laughed again, a soft and quiet laugh, but it felt just as good as the first. “No, I was the one who put it on. We were in my dorm room and he was absolutely not supposed to be there, but then that was what made it exciting. The music didn’t really set the mood, either. I mean, there wasn’t much of a mood to be set, anyway, with how quick it was over.”

Making Will laugh gave Piper a satisfaction almost equal to her own returned ability to laugh, especially since the story of her terrible first time made him laugh so hard he slipped off the chair and knocked his head on the ground. Piper lost it again as he tumbled forward and also banged his knee on the coffee table, curling into a ball pressed against the back of the couch. If she kept laughing this hard there was a good chance she would throw up all the ice cream she’d inhaled when Will arrived.

“What about you?” she asked, wiping tears from the corners of her eyes once she’d managed to control herself and Will had settled back in the armchair, properly this time. “I assume you weren’t in the midst of your first time in a closet with a bartender at our parents’ wedding.”

“No,” Will said, a firm denial. “The summer before I started college I went on tour with Mom, to spend some extra time with her since I wouldn’t be seeing her as much. She’d just hired a new bass player. He was twenty-one and one of the hottest guys I’ve ever set eyes on. Sneaking around tour buses and hotels definitely added to the excitement, so I understand what you mean about the dorm.”

“You’re telling me,” Piper said, glancing over at him, “that you come from a family of musicians, you apparently find musicians hot, and you _don’t like music_?”

“I really thought this was a judgment free zone,” Will complained, again smiling far too wide for Piper to be worried she’d said anything to upset him. 

She smiled back at him, broad and shameless, and so very glad to be able to do it again so easily. “That was definitely your mistake, William. This has always been a zone more judgmental than any court of law.”

“Time for me to leave,” Will replied, while making absolutely no move to follow through on the threat.

They settled back into silence, watching the concert, though Piper found herself thinking more about Will and his apparent aversion to music than anything on the screen. She understood a little of why he might feel that way. Piper enjoyed watching movies and TV, but she tended to prefer classic films, independent films with lower budgets, or animation, not the high octane, modern day blockbusters her dad starred in. Will having a similar relationship to music, the source of strain on his relationship with his mother, made complete sense to her.

“What’s stopped you from coming out to your mom?” Piper asked, voice quiet to match the more subdued tone the concert they were watching had taken on.

Though the question came out of nowhere, Will didn’t appear offended. His lips pursed, but his gaze stayed locked on the TV screen. After a minute or so, he shrugged. “It’s complicated. I’m not sure how to explain it.”

“Don’t you think the fact you _want_ to tell her says a lot about why you shouldn’t be afraid to?” she offered, trying not to sound harsh or – ironically, after their earlier teasing – judgmental.

“What do you mean?” he asked, finally turning to look at her again, the subtle furrow of his brow and mild frown displaying tentative curiosity.

Piper took a moment to gather her thoughts, to find the words best suited for expressing what she’d been thinking. Over the last few months she’d spent a lot of time contemplating the differences in his relationship with Naomi and her own relationship with Tristan. She envied Will his closeness with his mother, but she knew enough about the difficulties he’d faced growing up to begrudge him that closeness. There was something beautiful about how much Will cared about maintaining his relationship with her, even just the status quo.

“I just think,” she finally started, “if you really thought, deep down, that her knowing would change the way she feels about you, you wouldn’t want so desperately for her to know. You’d want to hide it. I also think there’s something special about the fact you want to share with her at all. God knows, I’ve never cared enough to even want to tell my dad.”

“Tell your dad what?” Will replied with a scoff. “Coming out as heterosexual isn’t a thing, Piper.”

Shifting in her seat, Piper averted her gaze, glad for the excuse of looking the TV. That had been a slip of the tongue, one she usually deftly avoided, carefully navigated around no matter the context. “You’re right, it’s not.”

“I am right,” he said, and though Piper refused to look at him, she could feel his eyes on her, “and you’re not the kind of person who would pretend it is. So, what did you mean?”

“I meant,” she said, pausing for a few seconds to decide whether she wanted to deflect or not. There were too many lies and secrets in her life now, though. Piper didn’t want this to be another one, not with Will. “I meant I’ve never cared enough to want to tell my dad that I like women.”

“What?”

That question right there was the very reason Piper hated having this conversation, the surprise, the disbelief, the indignation all wrapped up into a single word. She rolled her eyes and forced herself to look at him. “I’m bi, William.”

“Why wouldn’t you tell me that sooner?” he asked, a hint of hurt in his voice.

She bit back the reply on the tip of her tongue, instead tilting her head to one side and giving him her most meaningful stare. They hadn’t even known each other six months. The whole reason they were having this conversation was because Will couldn’t tell his own mother about himself. He knew full well how complex the issue at hand could be.

“Okay, I know I’m a hypocrite, but this is also different,” Will replied after a few seconds of her staring.

“When we met I was dating Jason,” Piper explained, heaving a sigh, hating that she had to put dating Jason in the past tense. “People are weird about bisexuality, especially when a bisexual woman is happily dating a man.”

Will’s expression softened with understanding. “Does Annabeth know?”

“Of course Annabeth knows,” Piper replied, saying that with a surprising amount of ease considering she’d avoided even telling Annabeth for years. 

Not being honest with Annabeth had come to a head when they decided to travel Europe together the summer after freshman year. Over the course of that trip Piper had met a girl she really clicked with, someone fun and interesting who had been looking for the exact same thing as Piper – no commitment, just a good time and a little companionship. There had been a few girls before, but Piper had been able to hide it, sneak around. That became a lot harder on their trip and, finally, the truth had come out. Fights had ensued, feelings had been hurt on both sides, and Annabeth had almost gone home early in a fit of rage. It had nearly been a disaster, but they’d managed to come out of it relatively unscathed, and in the end Piper had been relieved to no longer be hiding from her best friend.

Keeping secrets from Annabeth never worked, and yet there Piper sat, sitting on one of the biggest secrets of her life.

“Did Jason know?” Will asked, startling Piper out of her own reminiscing.

Piper shook her head – another secret, another regret, another thought she didn’t have the strength to linger on. “I’ve had a lot of bad experiences telling the people I date, men and women both. By the time I realized Jason wasn’t the type of person to be weird about it, I was scared he’d be hurt I didn’t trust him from the start.”

“Wow,” Will replied, heaving a sigh. “Wow, that’s… exactly why I’m still so scared to tell Mom.”

It didn’t make her happy to hear that, not really, but it did help her understand a little more of his continued hesitation. “The longer you wait to tell her, the worse that fear is going to get.”

He smiled, just a hint, barely reaching his eyes. “Who’s the hypocrite now?”

“I’m the older sister here,” Piper reminded him, as he so often enjoyed reminding her. “That means you have to do as I say and not as I do.”

“Thanks for telling me,” he said, instead of acknowledging her status as older and wiser, smile both widening and softening at once.

She shrugged, suddenly unable to meet his eye again. If it hadn’t been for the slip of her tongue, she probably would have gone on not telling him indefinitely. “It was an accident, honestly.”

“Still,” Will insisted. “You could have made up some bullshit to avoid the topic. You didn’t.”

Making up bullshit to avoid hard topics had become one of Piper’s worst habits. Will had called her a hypocrite, but he had no idea what a massive hypocrite she really was. The longer Piper kept her secrets, the worse it would make things. Part of her knew this, but every time she even considered trying to be honest, even just with Annabeth, she ended up so terrified her hands would shake and bile would rise in her throat. 

Piper feared Jove Grace, but it was more than that – she feared her friends knowing she had learned all their secrets, she feared them being hurt she’d kept the truth from them, she feared the inevitable realization that she’d made a mistake in not being honest from the start. She feared everyone turning their backs on her most of all.

“I’ll think about it,” Will said, once again startling her out of her own thoughts. When she looked at him in confusion, he laughed. “I’ll think about telling her next time I see her. Can’t have our baby sister growing up with a coward for a big brother.”

 _Not when she has one for a big sister_ , Piper thought, but she held her tongue and gave Will a small smile in reply. She hoped he did tell Naomi, not because he was a coward for keeping this secret, but because he deserved to be seen and loved for all of himself.

“Nice to see you smile again, by the way,” he added a few seconds later, wearing a smile of his own.

“Yeah, well, it was hard not to smile when you said your favorite song is the Imperial March,” she replied, rolling her eyes and thankful for the change of subject. “You’re seriously such a nerd.”

“Doesn’t Taylor Swift have a song about not being mean?” Will retorted, pointing at the screen. “She’d be disappointed in you, Piper McLean.”

“No, she would definitely love me,” Piper objected, saying it with complete confidence.

“I think Mom actually knows her,” Will said, tilting his head in thought.

“Shut up,” she replied, sitting up straighter and breaking into an instant smile. Piper had met plenty of celebrities through her dad, and generally did not care about them, but for the first time she found herself absolutely starstruck. “You haven’t met her, have you?”

Before long, going back and forth with Will so naturally and easily, Piper managed to forget everything else – about missing out on Frank’s birthday and her guilt over secrets, about being scared and how long the last two weeks had been. It was the most normal she’d felt in weeks, and soon she stopped noticing when she smiled or laughed, because it became so common she didn’t need to. Sitting there, scrolling through options on Netflix once the concert ended and they went in search of something else to watch, Piper almost even forgot how hollow she’d become inside.

Only almost, though.


	87. Chapter 87

“Remind me to never buy a meal for Jason again,” Percy said in a whisper as he and Annabeth ascended to Jason’s apartment at stomach dropping speeds. Even though she’d been there less than a week before, Annabeth still had not been prepared for that elevator ride.

“What about Frank?” Annabeth asked, unable to keep an amused grin off her face, her arm hooked around his waist.

Percy shook his head, scrunching up his nose. “Nah, Frank’s cool. I’ll buy him a meal any day. Jason, though? That fucker is going to pay.”

“You’ve always known how rich his family is,” she chided, though she doubted her tone was effective when combined with that smile. “He told us himself about his family’s jet.”

Knowing Percy and Jason were once again in regular, two way, communication made it hard for her not to encourage any form of familiarity and playfulness between them. Jason had kept his word after Annabeth had seen him the previous Friday. When Annabeth had returned home, Jason had already texted Percy his apology and they’d gotten together over the weekend to play basketball with Frank and Leo. She heard from Jason less often, but Annabeth was okay with that so long as Jason had stopped cutting himself off from everyone else. Their relationship was bound to be awkward going forward, until feelings settled and life progressed.

“Yeah,” Percy agreed as the elevator jerked to a stop on the appropriate floor, “but knowing and _seeing_ are very different things.”

He had a point there. Another thing Annabeth had not been prepared for even after seeing it once – the apartment itself. This time the space boasted plenty of décor. A giant banner reading, _HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRANK_ , hung between two of the beautiful support columns Annabeth had noticed on her first visit. Balloons littered the space, some tied to strings, some just allowed to float to the ceiling. Streamers hung in every possible location, connecting columns and rooms, adorning windows, and sometimes just hanging from the ceiling in spirals. Music played at a quiet volume, a mix of pop songs that provided nice background noise and would be perfect for turning up if and when anyone wanted to dance.

Compared to the extensive decoration, the guest list was modest. The apartments inhabitants were all present along with a few people Annabeth didn’t recognize but assumed were Frank’s classmates or childhood friends. The party planner herself, Hazel, had already arrived and stood with Frank and Reyna in the living room, chatting away. Leo and Cal had made it there early, too, though they were out on the deck. Annabeth and Percy rounded out the group, the last to arrive as far as she knew. It was a low-key affair for a low-key guest of honor.

They might have gone straight to Frank to say hello were he not there with Reyna. A tentative peace had been reached between her and Percy, but Annabeth didn’t want to push their luck. Years of animosity weren’t usually that easily overcome and it was better to be safe than sorry with something as important as Frank’s birthday on the line. Frank waved in greeting when he noticed them there at the door and they both returned it, but silently agreed they’d have to wait to give him a more formal greeting once he was away from Reyna.

Her eyes didn’t linger long on that group. They found Jason quick enough, standing toward the back of the room talking with Nico. In just the week since she’d last seen him, Jason had turned himself around completely. The bags under his eyes were gone. His face had filled back out to its expected appearance. He wore a collared shirt, perfectly pressed and tucked into his slacks, but the top button was undone and his sleeves rolled up to match the casual atmosphere. For a second she worried based on his expression, a frown and narrowed eyes, that his excitement from Friday had dissipated back into glumness, but Nico finished whatever he’d been saying and Jason laughed.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Annabeth continued around the apartment until her eyes found Thalia standing around in the kitchen. “I think I’m going to get myself a drink,” she told Percy, though her real motivation was speaking to Thalia.

“Get me a Coke, please?” Percy asked, his head ducked just enough to whisper in Annabeth’s ear.

Percy’s dedication to sobriety ahead of competition, even in social settings where everyone else was drinking, continually made Annabeth’s heart swell with pride. “You got it. Want anything else?”

“No thanks,” he replied, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “I’m going to go give Jason a bad time about getting his ass kicked Sunday.”

She watched him cross through the party and slap a hand on Jason’s shoulder, startling both men who’d been conversing, and smiled. It sucked that Piper couldn’t be there with them, but it was still nice to see everyone else assembled again. Maybe by the time they all left for Rome, Piper and Jason would be able to be in the same room together again.

“What’s up, miracle worker?” Thalia said in greeting when Annabeth finally made her way into the kitchen.

“Does it count as working a miracle if I’m not entirely sure what I did?” Annabeth replied, head tilting to the side and her lip curled skeptically.

Thalia grinned before shoving a handful of pretzel sticks into her mouth, chewing only a few seconds before she started talking again. “You lit a fire under his ass, that’s all that matters.”

“Did he tell you anything about what I said?” Annabeth asked, reaching for the 2-liter of Coke on the counter, but not yet opening it. She knew Jason had been excited about the revelation Piper had met his father that night, but they still didn’t know what Jove had said to Piper and Annabeth felt lost without that information. Add on her confusion about Jason acting like her story about Luke was some kind of revelation, and she had no idea what was going on his mind.

“Just about Dad being involved,” Thalia replied, anger flashing behind her eyes, but quickly dissipating. She nodded to the 2-liter and added, “If that’s for Percy, Jason got him some bottles. They’re in the fridge.”

“Huh?” Annabeth said, glancing down at the 2-liter in her hands and then back to Thalia. “Jason got Percy bottles of Coke?”

“The fancy glass ones,” Thalia confirmed with a lopsided grin. “Said something about how Percy isn’t drinking ahead of competition and him liking the glass bottles best.”

For a second, Annabeth was rendered speechless, staring at Thalia in disbelief. Between being heartbroken, whatever Annabeth had inspired him to look into, and the new job Jason had started that Monday, she couldn’t believe he’d had enough time or energy to think ahead and make such an effort. He’d always been thoughtful and considerate of what others wanted and needed, but this simple gesture went above and beyond. “Jason prepared special drinks for Percy to have at Frank’s birthday party?”

That made Thalia laugh and she shrugged. “I think he still feels bad about all those texts, but I stopped trying to understand what goes through the minds of the guys in this house years ago. Thinking too hard about it is only going to make you pop a blood vessel.”

Annabeth turned to glance over at where the guys were now chatting, Percy with his hands in his pockets, Jason leaning against the wall, Nico’s hands moving animatedly as he spoke, and she came up completely short. If she didn’t know better, Annabeth may have thought nothing had changed from a few weeks before. All that upheaval and they seemed almost entirely unchanged. Thalia was probably right, trying to figure out what was going on in their minds would just result in an aneurysm.

“Is Piper doing any better?” Thalia asked a few seconds later, her expression softening ever so slightly.

“It’s a process,” Annabeth answered, vague, but at least honest. Piper continued to be plagued with nightmares. The longer she went without a proper, uninterrupted night’s sleep, the more worried Annabeth became. Leaving that evening had been difficult for Annabeth, even with Will coming over to keep Piper company. “She’s bummed she couldn’t be here tonight.”

“Frank was bummed about that, too,” Thalia replied, picking up a single pretzel stick and looking at it curiously. “Not that he’d ever say it to Jason, of course. He understands why it was better for her not to be here, but still.”

At the mention of Frank, Annabeth’s eyes drifted naturally in his direction. He still stood in the living room, chatting with one of his friends, a shy smile on his face as Hazel clung to him and beamed with pride. Annabeth figured Frank had always been more comfortable in his own home, but she couldn’t help remembering how hunched and timid he used to be around other people. Frank still didn’t exactly act extroverted, but he certainly had a newfound, subtle air of confidence.

“I’ll make sure to give him her love,” Annabeth said, wishing, not for the first time, Piper could be there, if only to witness Frank’s growth herself.

With a small wave, Annabeth excused herself, stopping at the fridge to grab both Percy’s Coke and a cold beer for herself, then she crossed the room to where Percy stood in deep conversation with Jason and Nico. 

She wasn’t sure what she expected them to be talking about, but when she joined them she certainly hadn’t expected Jason to be saying, with the conviction of someone in the middle of a serious debate, “Dragons have six limbs – four legs and two wings. Those only had two legs, so they were wyverns. That oversight alone should have been a clue that the show was going to turn to shit eventually.”

“Wyverns are a _type_ of dragon, a species of dragon. They’re still dragons,” Nico replied with equal seriousness, his eyes narrowed, a hint of annoyance in his voice. 

Jason shook his head emphatically. “If wyverns are dragons, what do you call the standard four-legged, winged dragon?”

“A western dragon,” Nico answered without hesitation.

“No one calls them that,” Jason said flatly, looking to Percy for support.

Again, Annabeth wasn’t sure what to expect from this strange conversation, eyebrows raised curiously when she looked to her boyfriend, and she was just as surprised by Percy’s response. “It’s like cats,” he said. “If I say I saw a cat, you probably think of a domestic short hair, but I could have seen a Siamese or Bengal. They’re just as much cats as the domestic short hair, you just don’t think of them.”

Outnumbered, his back against the wall, Jason looked at Annabeth. “Help me out here. Please.”

“I don’t have enough knowledge or background on the subject to have an opinion either way,” she replied, holding up her hands in surrender. It was only then Percy seemed to notice she’d brought his requested Coke, taking the bottle with murmured thanks and another kiss to her cheek and then slipping his arm comfortably around her waist.

“Oh, I don’t believe that for a second. You always have an opinion,” Jason insisted, looking at her like she’d just said the sky was green. He did kind of have her there, and the ease with which he brought her into the conversation, like nothing about their dynamic had changed, made her too happy to just let the conversation drop.

A knowing smile played at her lips. “Well, I’m no expert, but I’m inclined to agree with Nico on this one.” 

“Thank you,” Nico said, gesturing to Annabeth with both hands.

“No,” Jason jumped in just as quickly. “No way are you getting away without explaining yourself, because you’re so _wrong_.”

“ _Wrong_?” Annabeth repeated, unable to hold back an incredulous laugh. “Defining dragons in general as only creatures with four legs and two wings completely disregards the existence of eastern dragons, which generally have four legs, but no wings at all. As far as the differences between western dragons and wyverns specifically, whether one is _more_ dragon than the other, it would come down to questions about etymology and the origins of their respective myths, and also the specific fantasy universe you’re talking about them existing in from a modern perspective, because that alone could completely change the answer.”

“How do you know so much about everything?” Percy asked, not even trying to hide his amazement. She always loved when he looked at her like that, as if he would never be able to get enough of her, and it brought a little heat to her cheeks.

Annabeth shrugged, ducking her head under the intensity of his gaze. “I went through a big fantasy novel phase in high school.”

“Okay, but that’s not my point,” Jason replied, turning his attention back to Nico. 

Instantly Percy and Nico were up in arms, objecting loudly to how easily Jason had relented once Annabeth had been the one to argue against him, and it was good to see the genuine way Jason smiled in response to their exuberance.

It wasn’t long before Frank finally made his way over to say hello and Annabeth got to give the birthday boy a proper hug. Hazel was stuck to him like glue, the shining smile she wore never fading, singing his praises endlessly and making his ears burn red – or his whole face when, on occasion, she would push up on her tiptoes and tug him down for a kiss, mostly on the cheek, but a few times on the lips. He didn’t really seem to mind, though, even with Nico teasing Hazel about being gross.

When Jason was away helping Thalia prepare Frank’s cake (and the twenty-two candles they were topping it with) Annabeth quietly told Frank, “Piper sends her love.”

“How is she?” Frank asked, just as quiet.

Every time someone asked Annabeth that question, her heart felt a little heavier in her chest – finding new ways to ease their friends’ worry without outright lying proved a never ending challenge. “She’s getting there. You’ll see her next week at the party for Leo and Cal.”

Frank smiled a little at that. “I miss her.”

“You and Hazel will have to come over for dinner sometime,” Annabeth replied, resting a reassuring hand on Frank’s arm.

“That’d be okay?” he asked, eyes flashing to where Hazel stood in the kitchen, overseeing the cake preparation with the utmost scrutiny.

“Very okay,” Annabeth confirmed. “After your LSATs or something, to celebrate.”

There had been a no presents rule for the party, but the way Frank smiled made Annabeth feel a little like she’d given him one anyway. Annabeth hadn’t thought much of it, but she realized over all those days and nights Piper had spent in this apartment, Frank had probably grown pretty attached to Piper. She knew first hand her best friend had that effect on people. Their group would need time to adjust, probably have a bit of a learning curve, but Annabeth was hopeful they’d figure out how to stay connected. In just six months they’d become a tangled web of friendship and love. Regardless of how things played out in the end, they would find a way to weather this storm, if only because they cared enough to want to.

Conversation ended there as Hazel rushed over to kill the lights, leaving the dangerous open flame of the cake’s candles to illuminate the space. Everyone circled around to sing Frank his happy birthday song and watch him attempt to blow out all those candles. It took him three breaths to get all of them and almost immediately Leo started teasing him about it. While Frank was distracted volleying a barb back at Leo, Jason hooked an arm around his neck and dragged him down enough for Hazel to swipe his face with frosting. 

For the rest of the night it became near impossible for Frank to go more than five minutes without someone else attempting to get frosting on him. Hazel, Annabeth and Nico were permitted to swipe him with it as they pleased, Frank never putting up a fight when they approached, though Nico only ever tried once. On the other hand, the rest of the boys, Thalia and Reyna were presented a challenge, usually having to team up to distract or restrain him for a chance to get close. Every time the culprit would let out a victorious cheer, and every time Frank would walk away with a begrudging smile on his lips.

Because it was a Thursday night and several of the party goers actually had jobs to get to in the morning, the group called it a night just past midnight. Before heading out, Percy rushed off to find a bathroom since he’d finished the entire six-pack of Coke Jason had prepared for him – there was a very good chance he was not going to be able to sleep that night. At the elevator doors that served as entrance into Jason’s apartment, Annabeth waited while she chatted with Hazel about a few plans for Leo’s send off the next week. 

Annabeth hadn’t noticed Jason lingering awkwardly off to the side until Hazel spotted him first. Hazel said a few quick parting words and then excused herself to allow Annabeth and Jason a chance to talk.

“What’s up?” Annabeth asked, cringing at how awkward she sounded.

Thankfully, it just made Jason smile. “I, uh, wanted to ask you a favor?”

“What can I do for you?” she replied, a little nervous about what it might be – whether related to Piper or his question about Luke the week before, she couldn’t be sure if her help would be possible. Those were things she definitely still wanted to talk to him about, but the setting and timing didn’t feel right.

Jason pursed his lips and slipped his hands into his pockets. “I think I need a change of scenery.”

“You want to move?” Annabeth asked, not even attempting to hide how taken aback the idea left her.

“No, not move,” he quickly corrected, his eyes scanning the space around them for a few seconds. “A while back Piper asked me if I liked this apartment. I didn’t know how to answer at the time, but the last couple weeks I’ve realized… I kind of hate it.”

Although she thought the apartment was absolutely gorgeous, Annabeth could understand why he felt that way. Aside from the beautiful layout and stunning, detailed features, the black and white color scheme made the overall atmosphere cold and unwelcoming. Accompanied by overly modern and slightly dated décor, the apartment seemed more like a hotel in need of a few updates than an actual home. Annabeth might describe it as impersonal and artificial, but then it wasn’t _her_ home and she didn’t want to be judgmental about someone else’s.

“So, you want to redecorate,” Annabeth concluded, nodding her understanding as she once again looked around the apartment, ideas already beginning to flood her mind.

“Just my room for starters,” he told her. “You have a good eye for design, even though I know interior design and architecture are different. I was just wondering if you might be willing to help. I’d pay you, for your time and effo–”

“You _will not_ be paying me,” she quickly interrupted, wearing a wide smile despite her stern tone, “but I’d love to help out, yes.”

“Actually, I _will_ be paying you, especially because I might ask you to help with more than just my room,” he replied, managing to sound equally stern despite the way his smile grew. “We’ll see, but I definitely want to start there.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes, feeling unexpectedly warm and fuzzy in her chest. “We’ll decide about payment later.”

“Payment for what?” Percy asked, returned from relieving himself and draping his arm over Annabeth’s shoulder. He and Jason had been practically inseparable the entire night, making an especially powerful tag team when it came to getting Frank frosted.

“Grace here has requested my services for help with some redecorating,” Annabeth answered, barely able to contain exactly how happy it made her that Jason was reaching out in this way, to think about how much time they’d get to spend hanging out and discussing plans and designs while working on it.

So many questions about where exactly Jason stood were still left unanswered, but knowing he was not cutting her out, and instead actively seeking her assistance, put her at ease about what the future had in store. Percy seemed to understand, his eyes full of the same relief she felt. They were a far cry away from back to normal, and they very well might never be, but for the time being Annabeth could settle for this _new_ normal.


	88. Chapter 88

“Tell the story!” Hazel chimed, followed immediately by chants of, “Tell it! Tell it! Tell it!” from Percy and Leo. It didn’t take long for the rest of the group to join the chorus, though Annabeth, Piper, Cal, Frank and Will weren’t quite as loud and demanding as the other three, despite being the ones who had never heard the story in question.

Sally Jackson and Paul Blofis sat on the couch with the chanting group surrounding them. She looked at her husband with a smile, his ears beginning to glow red, then held up her hands. “Okay, okay, I’ll tell it. Calm down.”

The atmosphere was warm, jovial, despite the fact that everyone had come together for the purpose of sending Leo (and Cal) off to Massachusetts. Objectively, the event should have been very sad, at least bittersweet. Paul and Sally were going with the couple in the morning to help get them settled. The rest of the group wouldn’t be seeing the other two again until – fingers crossed – everyone left together for Rome and the Olympics. Piper had expected more tears, but instead everyone laughed, told stories, and drank copious amounts of alcohol, even the parents. No one wanted to let negative emotions cloud the evening.

Since he now resided in the brownstone, and even though he’d only just barely started to get to know Leo and Cal, Will had joined in on the festivities. Piper was thankful for his presence. Without him she would have been the only single person in the room, the awkward odd one out between Sally and Paul, Percy and Annabeth, Frank and Hazel, and Leo and Cal. With him there beside her it was easier to sit back and enjoy the party. His regular visits to her apartment had also served a similar purpose. Sometimes Piper felt like a third wheel with Annabeth and Percy, as much as she loved and appreciated them and all they were doing for her, especially at night.

Just the fact that she even thought about those kinds of things at all added to Piper’s misery. Childish and selfish had become the words she most associated with herself in the last few weeks and they applied so well to so many situations she now found herself in. She hadn’t mentioned it to anyone, but she couldn’t help the way she felt. Her life had come down to masking as much of her own heartbreak as possible, getting on as best she could without letting anyone else see the massive hole inside of her.

In the moment she did her best to stay focused, giving her attention fully to Sally as story time began. Everyone leaned in a little, an array of smiles on their faces. Piper’s smile came easy, if not a little subdued. Since her breakthrough the previous week with Will, she had been able to find at least one reason to smile every day. Baby steps.

“Percy,” Sally began her story, pointing at her son accusingly, “had been in detention at least once a week since the school year had started, so you can imagine how terrified I was going into that first conference. Teachers had always been a little… judgmental. At that point I’d heard it all – the criticisms about being a single mother, having to work nights, not having time to help out in classrooms, the list could go on forever. Once a teacher told me Percy was, and I quote, ‘surprisingly well behaved _for an only child_ ,’ as if not having siblings makes a child innately less obedient. Even when one of them complimented him about something, it was always backhanded in one way or another.”

“She walked into my classroom ready to go to war,” Paul interjected, his eyes sparkling at the memory. “Scared the crap out of me when she sat down. I prepared myself for her to go off on me about who knew what – believe me, those conferences can be just as terrifying from the other side. The things some parents expect from us are mind boggling, and when one walks into a conference like that, it usually means they’re about to give you hell.”

Leo pointed at Paul. “Dad said hell! Swear jar!”

“Swear jar!” Percy echoed, throwing his head back and drawing out the _a_ in jar.

“The two of you owe the swear jar a small fortune each,” Hazel said, giving Percy a shove. Leo probably would have received one, too, but Frank and Cal separated him from Hazel.

“Oh, we will definitely be instituting a swear jar in our apartment,” Cal said with delight, sitting up a little straighter and turning to look at Leo.

“We definitely _will not_ , but please continue, Mom,” Leo said, not meeting Cal’s eye as he looked back across the living room.

Sally didn’t seem to mind the interruptions in the least and smiled, picking up where she’d left off. “So, I walk in and sit down across from Paul – although he was still Mr. Blofis to me at the time, and all I could hear in my head were the jokes Percy had been making about that name since his first day. We introduced ourselves and then the first thing out of my stupid mouth was, ‘It’s nice to finally meet you, Mr. Blowfish.’”

“I’d heard that more times than I could count from students, and got it at least once a day from Leo, but not once, ever, had a parent actually said it to my face,” Paul said. Percy and Leo were both beaming with pride at their own unoriginal jokes about the name, still, after all those years. Nothing had ever surprised Piper less about either of them.

“Naturally, I panic,” Sally picked back up. “I’m already expecting this guy to read me the riot act over Percy’s rebellious tendencies and then I go and insult him right off the bat. Over the years I’d made some terrible first impressions on teachers, but I was sure this one would take the cake. Paul just laughs, though, _cracks up_ laughing, to the point he can barely breathe. 

“Once he gets himself under control he tells me about how that was the very first thing Leo had ever said to him,” she kept going, looking at Paul beside her with honey filled eyes. “Suddenly, instead of Percy, we’re talking about Leo and how they’d found each other, the struggles of being a new parent to a boy at such a tumultuous age and the very steep learning curve that comes with it. Half the hour was gone before Paul realized we were supposed to be talking about my troublemaker, not his.”

The boys’ pride over their pun made significantly more sense in context, with it being what had brought their parents together, and they continued to glow as they listened to the story. Sally beamed just as brightly as her kids, and the warmth in her expression and voice seeped all the way into Piper’s bones, easing just a little of the dull ache that had haunted her for weeks. It was no wonder Percy, Hazel and Leo were so wonderful to be around, when this woman had influenced them each so deeply.

“Even with the enjoyable conversation, I was still nervous when it came time to talk about Percy,” Sally admitted to the group. “That was when the real surprises started. Paul didn’t berate me with Percy’s faults or shortcomings, he focused on Percy’s strengths. He told me that Percy was popular with his classmates, a team player both on the school swim team and on class projects, that all his teachers were impressed by that about him. When he brought up Percy’s detentions and the smart mouth that often led to them, there were no accusations, just understanding, and plans to help address the issue in the classroom rather than putting it all on me at home.”

“Anyone with eyes could tell Percy was a good kid,” Paul said, voice full of fondness. “Just still learning to control his temper.”

“We had that in common back then,” Leo said, jutting his chin out toward Percy in acknowledgment.

Hazel mumbled, “Still do sometimes,” under her breath, but there was no malice in her voice and the comment was met with laughter.

“Needless to say, I was charmed right from the start,” Sally picked back up, making her boys groan in a playfully childish way, as if they hadn’t been the ones begging her to tell this story a few minutes before. “I was mostly just glad Percy had finally lucked out with a teacher who wasn’t writing him off at the first opportunity. Our hour ended and I reached for my purse to head out, but Paul suddenly got all nervous and jittery. I knew what was coming before he opened his mouth, and I nearly told him no when he asked me if I’d like to get coffee sometime to keep talking about the boys. A date with Percy’s new homeroom teacher? Absolutely crazy. I said yes in the end, though.”

“Why did you say yes?” Cal asked, her sweet voice not jarring even as it broke the reverent silence that had settled over the group.

Piper wanted to know the answer to that question too, her breath held, a strange nervousness in the pit of her stomach. She watched Sally gaze at Paul, as if she herself had never asked that question – or maybe as if she was appreciating the miracle of it all. If Sally hadn’t called him _Blowfish_ on their first meeting, he might not have asked her at all, they might not have discovered their shared struggle as single parents of teenage boys, she might not have said yes. 

A seemingly inconsequential event, not otherwise spectacular in the grand scheme of things, but it was the moment that had changed the rest of Sally’s life. It was a misdelivered pizza. It was a broken down truck at just the right moment. It was a single shared class after years of pining from a distance. It was a slip at a bar and a bloody nose and a broken girl who’d been running from even the possibility of something real for far too long.

“I just couldn’t say no. My gut told me I’d regret it if I did,” Sally answered, reaching out and slipping her hand into Paul’s. The motion was natural and Piper could tell from the easy way they settled into holding onto each other that they’d done it countless times before, but never grew tired of the simplicity of that touch.

“And then I was stuck sharing a room with this dipstick for five years,” Leo concluded, pointing to Percy with his thumb and lifting the heaviness that had settled over the group. 

Thankful for the joke, Piper joined in the laughter and stealthily brushed away the tears that had begun to well in her own eyes. Not too stealthily, apparently, because when she looked back up Will stared back at her. She shook her head once, hoping he believed nothing was particularly wrong. Whether he did or not, he didn’t say anything.

“Shut up,” Percy easily replied, though there was a bittersweet lilt to his voice. “I’m going to miss your annoying ass,” he added with begrudging softness.

“Me too,” Hazel offered up, just as quietly.

The teasing went on between the three of them, Leo never allowing the sentimentality to last longer than a handful of seconds. It might have been annoying had it not been so easy to tell he was just deflecting his own emotions, trying to put off facing them for as long as possible. Piper could relate to a little too well in the moment. Leo leaving so soon after they met seemed like quite a shame – Piper had a feeling they could have been pretty spectacular friends if they’d had the time to get to know each other better.

While Percy regaled the group with a story of Leo accidentally setting his own hair on fire while they were in high school, Piper excused herself to the kitchen to grab bottle of water and clear her head. 

She was okay. Really, she was. There had just been a lot of emotions to process in a short period of time and she needed to get her own in check. Countless times a day she told herself these very things. Deep down she knew needing that many breaks from other people meant she wasn’t fine, but Piper had made it her driving motivation in life to ignore anything she felt deeper than surface level.

Unfortunately, Will followed her, cornering her by the fridge. “Are you okay? You didn’t look so good back there.”

“I’m fine,” she assured him, trying to sound sure of herself. Those were the only words she ever really had to say anymore. No one pushed her for more once they were spoken. She knew they were all afraid she was too fragile to be pushed, and probably they were all right.

Will watched her for a few seconds, his brow furrowed and his lips turned down in a very un-Will-like fashion. It looked like he wanted to say something, but before he could get it out, Percy called from the living room, “Hey, Will! What’s the name of that friend of yours, the dancer? The one I think went to my high school.”

That interruption came at just the right moment, as far as Piper was concerned, because Will huffed a sigh, nodded, and then turned back toward the living room. “Lavinia. Why?” she heard Will reply as he rejoined the rest of the group.

Piper took another couple minutes in the kitchen collecting herself, trying not to think about how close Will had probably just come to pushing her past the _I’m Fine_ barrier she had so carefully established. Tonight wasn’t the time she wanted to deal with that. In the morning she’d consider having a more open discussion about the disaster she’d become inside with Annabeth and Will. There were still a lot of things she didn’t want to talk about, couldn’t talk about, but maybe it was time to stop acting like she was okay when she wasn’t.

When she returned to the living room, the group were all excitedly talking about Will’s friend Lavinia, who, apparently, had attended Percy and Leo’s high school a couple years behind them and been in Paul’s class. Piper had not yet met the girl in question, but it sounded like she was quite the memorable character. As Will filled Paul in on what Lavinia had been doing since high school, Piper started to consider some excuse she could come up with to head out for the night, even though it wasn’t even seven, they hadn’t eaten dinner yet, and the plan was to stay there well into the night.

Before she could say anything, she felt her phone buzzing in her pocket. It seemed strange, because most of the people who usually called her were already there in that room. Brow furrowed, she pulled her phone from her pocket and felt her heart stop when she saw a picture of her dad smiling back at her. It had been well over a year since he’d called Piper first.

She accepted the call and excused herself from the group again. “Hey, Dad.”

“Is Will with you, Pipes? I tried calling him just now, but he didn’t answer his phone,” Tristan replied, and Piper immediately noticed the strain in his voice.

“Yeah, he’s right here. What’s wrong?” she asked, chest constricting. Her eyes had flickered to Will at the mention of his name and he stared back at her, a tentative and curious look on his face.

Tristan paused on the other end of the line, as if grappling with what to say. Adrenaline had already instinctively begun to pump through her veins as she waited for him to answer. He wouldn’t be calling for just anything and he tried Will first. Piper told herself she was overreacting in those seconds before Tristan finally gave a reply, that he and Naomi probably called Will all the time and simply worried because he hadn’t answered when he usually would have. She sure was becoming an expert at lying to herself.

“We just called an ambulance for Naomi,” he finally said. “I’m on the way to the hospital to meet her now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't leave notes here often, but i recently(ish?) started using tumblr again and thought i'd drop the info off. my username is [@couvers](https://couvers.tumblr.com/)! i'm still very active on [twitter](https://twitter.com/waddled), too ofc.


	89. Chapter 89

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter includes hospital things (not especially graphic, but still) and i know that can be difficult for some people to read, so i thought i'd give a little heads up. ♥

It all happened in the blink of an eye. 

One second Annabeth was laughing as Percy and Hazel dragged Leo across the coals by ripping apart his attempts at claiming to be some kind of player in high school. The next second her eyes were on Piper, stepping away from the group to take a call. Getting a phone call at that hour wasn’t necessarily enough for Annabeth to know something was wrong, but her heart still suddenly jumped into her throat as panic had her mind racing through possibilities, then Piper’s gaze fell on Will and Annabeth put all the pieces together without needing so much as a word.

The next thing Annabeth knew two hours had passed and she was rushing to a gate at the airport to catch the last flight of the night out of JFK to LAX. Percy drove them back to the apartment to pack after Will had thrown together a bag – “Only carry ons,” Annabeth had instructed, “so we don’t have to deal with baggage claim.” – in record time, then to the airport. They barely had time to say goodbye before Annabeth, Piper and Will jumped out of the car.

Percy had offered about a dozen times to go with them, but Annabeth and Piper had both insisted he needed to stay so he didn’t miss any training sessions. Piper was struggling enough without feeling like Percy had been put out on her account, not sure how she would handle calling her boss in the morning to say, after a week and a half on the job, she would not be able to come in. They would cross that bridge when they came to it.

Tristan had been texting Piper updates as often as he could. All day Naomi had felt sick, headaches and nausea, then after trying to get down dinner she’d started throwing up. That was when the dizziness and abdominal pain had hit. At the hospital they discovered her blood pressure had jumped off the charts. The doctors started her on IV fluids and medications and admitted her for monitoring.

Once they were on their flight and in the air, Annabeth half expected both Piper and Will to break down, but they didn’t. They sat next to each other in the row behind Annabeth, both staring at the backs of the seats ahead of them, their expressions grim and guarded, whispering to each other, but saying little else. Annabeth was helpless, trapped on that flight for over six hours, unable to do anything for either of them, or for Tristan and Naomi.

Helpless had become a near constant state of being for Annabeth. Piper still wouldn’t talk to her about what had happened with Jason’s father, or why it had triggered the return of those horrid nightmares. Without the full story, without the truth, Annabeth couldn’t properly help. Perhaps, she’d thought several times over the last few weeks, this was karma. Life had decided to give her a taste of her own medicine after having kept Piper in the dark about her own pain for all those years. There had never been a more bitter pill to swallow.

Even worse, Annabeth had yet to hear anything more from Jason about his epiphany since she’d stormed into his room and apparently dragged him out of his depressive episode. He texted Percy plenty and they had hung out a couple times. Frank reported he had resumed eating meals with the family and going about life in a semi-normal state. Jason had started his job, though Annabeth hadn’t heard much of anything about that. His only communication with her had been in regards to the redecorating, which she still felt happy to be able to help with, but didn’t seem like enough in the grand scheme of things.

All of those things were good signs, but she knew something else was happening. His excitement that evening she’d visited had meant something. Annabeth wanted to _help_ , for him, for Piper, for all of them. No one would let her.

In a strange way, Annabeth was even more thankful than ever that she’d already decided to take the summer off before any of this had happened. Not needing to go to work in the mornings freed her up to be available to Piper at all times of the night. She could get her rest while Piper went to work and be refreshed enough to be a pillar of support again by the time Piper got home. There was time for Jason’s project, and on the flip side it helped her feel productive in her down time. If Annabeth had already been working, she also wouldn’t have been able to jump on that flight with Piper and Will. It didn’t quite feel like _helping_ , but at least she could be available to friends when needed.

This, she knew, especially when discussing it with Dr. Brunner, was not a sustainable lifestyle. Eventually she would burn out, and that wouldn’t be good for anyone, but if she could keep it together long enough for Piper to begin opening up, and for some kind of progress to be made in reigning in the nightmares again, and for all of them to regain some kind of stability again, Annabeth would consider it a win.

Sitting on that plane, a middle aged woman already snoring in the seat next to her, Annabeth’s frustration reached an all time high, though. The number of times she turned around in her seat to ask Piper or Will if they needed anything probably drove the two of them insane, but she was too restless. There were too many things in her life that had spiraled out of her control, she would not let _this_ be another one.

Her mind played through plans for when they landed, mapping out routes they could take to get out as quickly as possible from her memories of LAX. Unfortunately that airport was a labyrinth – there were too many different gates and terminals, too many possibilities for where they’d start out depending on what gates were available when their plane landed, and, with constant new constructions and renovations, the place was ever changing. About an hour outside of LA she gave in and paid for the in flight WiFi just so she could pull up a map of the airport and put her mental image to the real thing. It made her feel better, even as she looked back at Piper and Will and was reminded of their all encompassing anguish.

Piper got on the phone to Tristan the minute the plane had arrived at their gate, before even the doors were open or people started being let off. “How is she?”

Annabeth watched Piper’s expression darken. From the sharp, shallow way Piper breathed and the slight shake of her hand, Annabeth could tell panic was only just being held at bay. Whatever Tristan was telling her on the other end of the phone was not good, and now Piper had to be the one to relay the bad news to them, to Will.

“We just landed and we’ll be there as soon as possible. I’m not sure we’ll make it before they take her back, but we’ll be there. It’s going to be okay,” Piper told her dad, eyes flickering first toward Will and then to Annabeth. It was a look of desperation, her strength and resolve fading quickly as she gave all she had to Tristan. 

No one in the world was as strong as Piper McLean, as selfless and full of love. It had been weeks since her last uninterrupted night’s sleep. Her heart remained very broken. She was still adjusting to the schedule and expectations of a new job. Annabeth wondered how she could do it, how Piper could so willingly give every ounce of her strength to her father, even after years of feeling brushed aside and forgotten, and even when that strength was such a precious commodity, in short supply. Piper did it without a second thought, though, with an unparalleled ease and grace.

“What did he say?” Annabeth asked as gently as she could, her chest constricting.

Swallowing hard, Piper looked at Will. “She hasn’t improved. They’re taking her for an emergency c-section in the next few minutes.”

Will went pale, but there was no time for him to say anything else. They collected their bags from the overhead bin and were on their way off the plane and through the airport as fast as humanly possible. Knowing exactly where they were thanks to Annabeth’s hours of obsessive planning and airport mapping, they managed to weave through the late night crowds and right to the nearest taxi station in what must have been record time.

It was late, which thankfully meant minimal traffic, at least by LA standards. They raced across town, but from the front seat Annabeth could see Will checking the time on his phone every couple minutes. The drive from LAX to the hospital was almost a full hour. Every second of that trip had to be hell for him, but again they were powerless against the reality of their situation, left with nothing to do but sit back and wait. Piper held Will’s hand, reassuring him every few minutes in whispered words and tight, tiny smiles.

A utilitarian concrete and brick monstrosity from the outside, efficient and effective for its purpose, the hospital building lacked any particular beauty. Inside was just as predictable – fluorescent lights, beige tile floors, signs with room numbers and wing names everywhere. Generic paintings and other artwork adorned the walls in an attempt to make it seem less sterile and impersonal, even as the stench of antiseptic and decay stung their noses the instant they walked through the front doors. Annabeth didn’t let them linger long enough for all of that to just add to their misery, ushering Piper and Will forward as soon as she processed the signage well enough to direct them.

“They should be done by now,” Will said when the three of them arrived in the OR waiting room. No one else waited there in the middle of the night, the space eerily silent. A monitor on one of the walls told them _Solace, N_ was still in surgery, but gave no more information. The desk at the far side of the room was unmanned and Tristan had gone into surgery with Naomi, unable to be reached.

“Do you want me to see if I can find someone to ask about her?” Annabeth offered, wrapping her arms around herself. She’d been dressed for summer weather in a light, short sleeved blouse, but the over powered air conditioning made the room frigid and goosebumps popped up along her arms.

Both Will and Piper shook their heads, collapsing beside each other into the tacky, floral pattered chairs packed into the small waiting area. “Maybe they were delayed getting started,” Piper said reaching out for Will’s hand. Annabeth watched them thread their fingers together, clinging to each other.

“When they decide on an emergency c-section, it happens fast,” Will replied, shaking his head again. His eyes were unfocused, aimed at the wall across from him but not seeing it. “Usually it’s only a few minutes from when the decision is made to when they deliver the baby. It should be done by now. They should have been done before we even got in the taxi.”

Piper reached out and brushed some hair out of Will’s face with her free hand and again the strength Piper exhibited struck Annabeth. She was the pillar holding Will up, pushing aside every one of her own fears, all of her own pain, the exhaustion written all over her face, to stand steadfast for the sake of him and her father. It was an exceptional level of courage and selflessness, even for Piper.

Courageous. Selfless. Forgiving. Patient. Loving. Despite all the ways life tried to knock Piper down, she remained those things at her very core, refusing to be embittered. She lived her life with her heart bared in all its stunning glory for the world to see, for the world to take advantage of, for the world to use against her. 

Jove Grace had done it, though Annabeth still didn’t understand how. No more waiting around, she resolved. Once this storm had passed, once Tristan and Naomi were safe and Piper’s little sister had come into the world, Annabeth would reach out to Jason again and they would put together whatever puzzle he had discovered. They would make his father pay. It didn’t matter if Piper wouldn’t tell her the truth. Annabeth would find the truth for herself.

“I think I saw some vending machines on our way in,” Annabeth finally said. “I’m going to get myself something to drink. Either of you want anything?”

Yet again they both just shook their heads. 

Annabeth nodded, hesitating to go when it was just for herself, but deciding to head over anyway. The machine was thankfully close, but as she stared at the selections nothing stood out to her. Despite the other two saying they didn’t want anything, she got three bottles of water. She also decided to get a few bags of chips and candy bars, only half paying attention to what she selected. The junk was far from an ideal meal, but she knew neither of them had eaten on the flight and wanted them to have something at hand when they changed their minds. She dumped the selection on the coffee table centered in the waiting area and took a seat next to Piper with only a water bottle in hand.

All three of them stared at the door to the OR. Minutes dragged by, each one more painful than the last. Annabeth heard a sniffle and glanced over to see tears had finally broken through Will’s defenses. She said nothing, turning her eyes back toward the teal painted double doors to allow Will as much privacy as their situation afforded.

The breath went out of Annabeth when the doors opened and Tristan stepped through, accompanied by a nurse. He wore a surgical gown over his clothes, a paper mask on his face and a cap over his hair. The three waiting stood as soon as they spotted him, but Tristan took a couple more seconds to process what he was seeing, that they were there. In those seconds Annabeth braced herself for the worst, her hand grabbing for Piper’s and holding on with all her might.

Tristan smiled beneath his mask, stretching the fabric, the crinkling around his eyes evidence of how wide it was, and then he tugged the thing off his face. “Four pounds, nine ounces,” he announced, “and all of seventeen inches.”

“And Mom?” Will asked, his voice strained. There would be no relief for him until he knew, for sure, explicitly, she was okay, too.

“She’s fine,” Tristan confirmed with a nod, his smile widening as if he was only just realizing as much himself. The last six hours, every word a doctor or nurse had spoken, all the fear and anxiety he’d felt leading to that very moment had to have blended together in a surreal, nightmarish combination, impossible to process.

Next to him, the nurse stepped forward. “They had to use general anesthesia because of how quickly they decided to operate. There were a few complications with the surgery, but she came through it well. She’s in recovery now. I’ll take you all back to her room to wait for her there.”

A blur of activity followed. They hurried to Naomi’s hospital room to wait until she’d been cleared in recovery. Tristan filled them in on the details of the last six hours, but none of the horrors he and Naomi had faced held weight compared to the relief that came from knowing both mother and child were safe. The baby girl was only 33 weeks and would need time in the NICU to gain her strength while her lungs continued to develop, but that also seemed like a small, insignificant detail when they were assured that she was as strong and healthy as could be expected under the circumstances. All outlooks were good.

“What’s her name?” Piper asked, once Naomi was returned to her room and they were all settled together – even though the patient was a little hopped up on pain medication, barely able to keep her eyes open, she tried her best to stay alert while they all celebrated the good news.

Tristan and Naomi smiled at each other, then Naomi looked back at Piper and Will. “Elena. Elena McLean.”

“Not hyphenated?” Will asked, his voice going up an octave and making both Piper and Annabeth laugh.

“We thought one famous parent’s surname was enough for any kid,” Tristan replied, though he looked a little nervous about Will’s reaction, glancing back at his wife hesitantly.

Naomi reached for Will’s hand. “McLean-Solace was just too much of a mouthful,” she added, nose wrinkled. Will, weakened by the strain of all the worrying he’d done that evening, could only heave a disappointed sigh in response.

“Want me to hyphenate for you, William? I think I could handle two famous names,” Piper said, her eyes twinkling. That was the first time Piper had called him William since the call from Tristan had first come in. Annabeth knew it meant she was settling back down, relaxing.

The way Will glared at Piper made Annabeth think he was relaxing too. “No, thank you, Piper.”

“You four should call the nurse and go see Elena. I think I need some shut eye now and she should meet her family,” Naomi said, looking from Will, to Piper and then to Annabeth – being included in the group admittedly made Annabeth’s heart go a little melty.

Annabeth had always considered Piper her family, but she’d never been confident about how Tristan viewed her, whether he simply saw her as his daughter’s friend or as a more extended part of his family, too. He had, just a few months before, paid her last semester’s tuition in full. Naomi had to have at least been aware of his decision to spend that kind of cash. If Naomi so readily included Annabeth in the family, she wondered what Tristan must have said about her, what stories he would have told. Piper felt, and rightfully so, like he didn’t care. While Annabeth would be the last person to excuse his neglect, for the first time she found herself thinking he might have been paying more attention than Piper realized, might have cared more than he had let on.

“Actually,” Will said, glancing at Piper, “I think I’d like a few minutes alone with Mom. I’ll catch up?”

“You know where to find me if you need me,” Annabeth heard Piper say when the other three stood to leave, though it was quiet and she got the impression it had been for Will’s ears only. Piper stopped by Will’s side to press a kiss to the side of his head and give his shoulder a squeeze. He smiled back at her while he watched everyone leave.

As they made their way out of the room, Tristan just behind, Piper slipped her hand into Annabeth’s and gave it a squeeze. A tiny smile played on her lips, her eyes misty, and Annabeth knew the expression was genuine. With a supportive squeeze of Piper’s hand in return, they went to find a nurse and meet Piper’s little sister – _their_ little sister – for the first time.


	90. Chapter 90

“She’s perfect,” Piper whispered, looking down at the red and wrinkly, brand new little human being sleeping on the other side of an incubator.

Elena had a tube to help her breathe, wires hooked up to machines to monitor her vital signs, and an IV, but she had ten fingers and ten toes and a little patch of fuzzy, dark brown hair on top of her head the same color as Piper’s. They would be able to reach in and touch her, but only when she was already awake. The nurse had explained that it was important not to disrupt the baby’s natural sleep patterns and physical contact was likely to make her stir. That was fine, Piper would get her chance soon enough.

Saying she knew how she would feel in that moment would’ve been a lie. Piper had struggled with many different emotions over the course of the last few months where her father and her unborn sister had been concerned. There in the hospital, after having spent hours terrified something might go wrong and that little angel wouldn’t make it to the world at all, Piper felt only love and relief. It was pure, all encompassing, completely unconditional. To her surprise, she was also happy, truly happy. Piper hadn’t been able to use that word in weeks, but she couldn’t help it when she was looking at someone so wonderfully _perfect_.

“She certainly is perfect,” Tristan agreed, his voice soft and reverent. “She deserves a better father than she’s got. You deserved better too, Pipes.”

Piper’s head jerked up, her eyes falling on her father, and she stared for a few seconds, speechless. Part of her wanted to say, yeah, she had deserved better. She’d deserved a father who showed up at least on special occasions. She’d deserved a father who actually called to check up on her, and stayed on the phone for longer than a few minutes when he did. She’d deserved a father who didn’t send her away just to get her out of his hair. There were a lot of things she had deserved, but the ship had sailed on those things long before that evening and rubbing it in wouldn’t do either of them any good.

“You’re still here, Dad,” she said instead, surprising even herself. “You can still be better.”

Tristan looked up at her, his brow furrowed and expression heavy with an exhaustion she had a feeling went beyond the draining day he’d just had. “You’d be willing to give me that chance?”

“Yeah,” Piper answered, a lump forming in her throat. All the way To LA, through the torturous minutes they’d spent in the waiting room, Piper had managed to keep her tears at bay. Suddenly they were right there, breaking through her defenses, because _yes_ , for as long as she could remember she’d wanted nothing more than this moment.

“I’m not sure I know how,” he confessed softly, looking back down at Elena. For the first time Piper noticed something other than the pure love and joy he’d been exuding since he walked out of that OR – fear, fear he would fail his second daughter in all the same ways he had failed Piper. Somewhere along the way Tristan had realized he failed as a father. Whether it was years ago or just the other day, Piper couldn’t be sure, but she was vindicated, validated all the same just knowing he could finally acknowledge it.

Eyes falling back to her baby sister, Piper watched the rapid rise and fall of Elena’s chest, her tiny and underdeveloped lungs fighting with each attempt to fill with oxygen. It was unreal that someone could be that small, an actual human so fragile, but there were even smaller infants just in the very same NICU. Piper felt that fragile herself so often lately. People had certainly been treating her that way in recent weeks.

Piper wasn’t fragile, though, and she was tired of everyone acting like it.

“Jason and I broke up,” she said aloud. It was the first time she’d said it explicitly. Everyone else had either heard from him or from each other second hand – or in Will’s case, over text – and while she’d alluded to it, she’d avoided actually saying it very purposefully. Speaking the words made it feel real, even after nearly three weeks of not once even setting eyes on him, and the lump in her throat turned into a silent sob as tears finally spilled over.

Compared to concerns over her nightmares and everything else in the world, maybe the break up with Jason should have seemed insignificant, but it wasn’t. Her waking hours were filled with the pain of missing him, her sleeping hours filled with the terror of her dreams, all of it originating from a single source. Losing Jason and her nightmares were tangled so thoroughly together that there would be no coming to terms with one and not the other. In a small way, being able to say even that much aloud lifted a weight from her shoulders.

“Pipes, I’m so sorry,” Tristan said, his voice gentle and surprisingly soothing. He circled around the incubator where Elena slept to sweep Piper up in his arms.

Being held by her father was a strange sensation. He’d never hugged her much growing up and it had usually been awkward when he did. There in the NICU it didn’t feel forced or uncomfortable, though. More than ever before, they were family. Piper wrapped her arms back around him and cried into his chest. It should have felt selfish, to be comforted over something as unimportant as a break up when he’d just had such a terrible day himself, but it didn’t.

It had taken almost twenty-three full years but maybe, just maybe, Tristan McLean had finally figured out a little something about fatherhood after all.

There were a lot of things Piper suddenly wanted to talk to her father about, most of which were related to her mother, but she decided to swallow her questions down for the day. Just being comforted was enough. Having a healthy little sister and a safe step-mother and a step-brother she adored was enough. When tomorrow came she could think about all those difficult questions again, and hopefully there would be plenty of time in her future, beyond just the next day, for asking them.

When Piper returned to the waiting room, Annabeth sat with legs crossed in one of the stiff chairs. She smiled, reaching out immediately to take Piper’s hand. “How is she?”

“Beautiful,” Piper answered without hesitation, stopping right beside Annabeth’s chair and leaning down to press a kiss to the top of her head. No words could ever express Piper’s thankfulness for Annabeth’s strength that night, every night. “Dad’s still waiting in there. You should go meet her.”

“Will’s not back yet. He should go first,” Annabeth objected with a shake of her head.

“He’ll be fine if you go first,” Piper replied, squeezing Annabeth’s hand. “Go. You’re going to love her.”

Annabeth sighed, but she wore a smile. She got to her feet, stopping only to give Piper a quick hug. “I certainly do love her sister enough already.”

“Her sister loves you a lot, too,” Piper said softly, hesitant to let Annabeth out of her reach, even though she really did want her best friend to go meet Elena.

As Annabeth left to head in to the NICU, Piper settled herself in the same chair. Exhaustion hit her like a brick wall. The clock on the wall read nearly 1AM and she didn’t remember the last time she’d had anything to eat, but sitting there in that too cold waiting room Piper started to feel like she might actually be capable of mending, like maybe the emptiness left in Jason’s wake didn’t have to be permanent. Piper could stitch her heart together again, a painful process, but not impossible, and fill it back up with hugs from her father, the roll of Will’s eyes when she called him William, Elena’s unbelievably tiny fingers and toes, and the comforting familiarity of Annabeth holding her hand through it all.

Will came out a few minutes after Annabeth left, collapsing into the chair opposite Piper and letting out a heavy sigh. 

“How did it go?” Piper asked, immediately concerned by his posture and overall demeanor.

He hadn’t said what he wanted to talk to Naomi about back in her room, but Piper had known. On the plane, in whispered voices, Will had been near tears with guilt thinking he might lose his mom before had a chance to come out to her, to be honest with her about who he was. Piper had done her best to console him, to assure him he would have plenty of time to make that right. She assumed he’d wanted time with Naomi for the express purpose of that conversation.

“You know,” he started, brow furrowed, “I expected it to be all dramatic and shit, and it felt like that for a minute because I got all wrapped up in my own head and kept apologizing for not telling her sooner. Instead she just kind of smiled at me, all doped up on those pain meds, and said, ‘It’s okay. I’ve known for a long time.’”

A broad smile spread across Piper’s face, some of her exhaustion fading in the light of good news. “Are you relieved?”

“I feel stupid,” Will replied, laughing at himself. “Apparently I haven’t been as sneaky as I thought I was over the years. Mom said she always had a little feeling I wasn’t straight, but that when I was in high school she saw me kissing this guy I secretly dated for a while. Since then she’s just been waiting for me to be ready to tell her.”

“Well,” Piper said, only barely managing to hold back her laughter, “I did find out the day we met, so I can’t say that surprises me at all.”

“It was the day after we met,” he corrected, his smile growing. 

If it hadn’t been for that moment, Piper wasn’t sure they’d be where they were, at least not having that conversation with so much affection between them. They probably would have remained awkward and uncertain about each other. Piper would have continued to feel bitter about how close he was to Naomi. Will probably would have thought Piper cold or uncaring because of her distance from Tristan. Because of that very unexpected and uncomfortable encounter, they’d been able to bridge a gap Piper otherwise would have thought too wide, and the result had developed into one of the most precious relationships in her life.

“It was within twenty-four hours of us meeting,” she reminded him. “The point is, you’re not even remotely sneaky, so I doubt that was the only time she caught you.”

“You’re so annoying,” he grumbled, though his smile refused to fade.

Thankfully for Will, Annabeth appeared before Piper could say anything else on the matter. She jerked her head in the direction of the NICU. “Go meet our little sister, William.”

Will stood, but paused in front of Piper for a few seconds. “Thanks for tonight, by the way. I would have lost my mind if you hadn’t been here.”

“I owed you one,” Piper admitted, though she would have been there for him regardless and she was pretty sure they both knew as much. “You’ve kept me from losing my mind the last few weeks, too.”

“I’m glad our parents got married, even if you are annoying,” he told her, and Piper found she agreed wholeheartedly. Being glad back in February might have been nice, but she supposed it was better late than never.

The group didn’t linger at the hospital after Will had his chance to meet Elena. Tristan saw them off in a taxi, opting to stay the night with Naomi in her room. The ride from the hospital to the house was long and sleepy. In LA it was only almost two, but they were all still technically on New York time and should have been in bed long before, even without the added exhaustion from stress and traveling.

Climbing the front steps to the house when they arrived took almost all of Piper’s reserve energy. She considered just crashing on one of the couches on the main level instead of trying to head all the way upstairs, but Annabeth dragged her up. All three of them exchanged hugs and goodnights at the second floor landing. Piper clung to Annabeth extra long. Being comforted by her father had felt good, and it was something long overdue, but nothing would ever really compare to the soul soothing embrace of Annabeth Chase.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to just go in there and sleep with you?” Annabeth asked, clinging to Piper’s hand even after they’d pulled apart.

“You’ll sleep better in your own bed,” Piper insisted. They’d tried Annabeth sleeping with her to fend off the nightmares a few times already and it hadn’t worked. On the off chance a miracle occurred and Piper managed to sleep through the night, she wanted Annabeth to have slept well, too.

Uncertainty shined in Annabeth’s eyes, but she nodded. “I’m right here if you need me.”

“I know,” Piper assured her. After another quick hug, they went their separate ways.

Piper’s room was exactly as she’d left it in February. When she flicked the lights on and looked around, it was at once the most familiar place in the world and the least familiar. She hadn’t expected it to be so difficult to face her own bedroom, but this had been a fate of her own making. It had been her intention to mark every corner of that room with memories of Jason, and that had been exactly what she’d done – he was there in her bed, confessing his insecurities; he stood in the door to her bathroom, fresh out of the shower and smiling at her, his blue eyes bright and the white line of his scar so wonderfully pronounced; he was in her closet, fretting over his shirts and worrying even the slightest wrinkle might make a bad impression on her father; he was pulling a small box out of his luggage and telling her she was good enough when she’d been so crippled by self-doubt.

She hadn’t been good enough.

It hit her like a freight train, knocking the wind out of her in a very physical way. Even back then, she hadn’t been good enough. She’d let herself believe it was possible she could be, that when he said it nothing else mattered. Those months had been a lie, though. Fundamentally, from her background to her own reckless choices and everything in between, Piper McLean had never once been good enough for Jason Grace.

Tears were streaming down her face as she rushed out and a few doors down to the room Annabeth had always used. She knocked until the door was answered, Annabeth not yet changed and with her phone to her ear. “I’ll call you back tomorrow. Love you,” she said into the phone after all of two seconds processing the sight of Piper in front of her, then promptly hung up.

“I wasn’t good enough,” Piper told her, voice barely above a whisper, shaking and foreign to her own ears.

Annabeth’s jaw set defiantly and she held out her arms. Piper didn’t hesitate to throw herself into them again, letting out a painful sob as she did. They stood there in the bedroom door as Piper buried her face in Annabeth’s shoulder. Piper had lied to herself again, trying to act like she wasn’t too fragile to function.

“You need to sleep,” Annabeth said gently. “You’re exhausted and emotionally drained, that’s all. Today you did an amazing thing for Will and your dad, but you need to let yourself rest now.”

Piper shook her head, keeping her face tucked into Annabeth’s shoulder. “I can’t go back in there.”

“Then you’ll sleep in here with me,” Annabeth told her, simultaneously firm and forgiving, “but in the morning we need to have a talk.”

There were so many things that needed to be talked about – with Annabeth, with her dad, probably with just about everyone in Piper’s life. The more time passed, the more Piper feared she should have had a proper conversation with _Jason_ , the one she’d been so scared of the morning she broke up with him, but it was too late for that now. In her weakened state, the idea of having those conversations was devastatingly terrifying, making another painful sob break through her chest. 

Her secrets needed to stay secret. They were too dangerous to let out. Piper wasn’t the kind of person who could hold in secrets of that magnitude, though. Letting them eat at her, letting the wounds they created fester, was more than she could handle. Annabeth was right. They needed to have a talk in the morning, and Piper needed to come clean about everything.

“Come on, let’s get you into bed,” Annabeth whispered, pulling away enough to wrap an arm around Piper’s shoulder. 

When they got to the bed, Annabeth drew back the covers. Neither of them bothered to change, instead just shimmying out of their pants, then Annabeth made Piper crawl into bed first and followed after. Together they curled up, Piper once again hiding her face away and Annabeth wrapping arms around her, a shield against even the most terrible things the world could throw at them.

They fell silent while Piper cried, just holding on to each other. Exhaustion had them both on the edge of passing out, sleep calling to them louder with every passing second. The gnawing at Piper’s stomach said they probably should have had something to eat before trying to sleep, but, like so many other things, it was too late now. Nuzzling against Annabeth, Piper took a deep breath of a sweetly familiar, lemony scent, potent enough that it even managed to break through her snot stuffed nose. 

That hadn’t always been the way Annabeth smelled, of course. Over the years she’d gone through a few different scent phases as her tastes changed and matured – from the overpowering and stinging scent of Victoria’s Secret body spray in middle school, to a more subtle musky perfume Annabeth had favored in high school, and everything in between. The citrusy shampoo which had become Annabeth’s signature scent didn’t seem to be going anywhere. Annabeth had discovered it at a small boutique just a few blocks away from their apartment the first summer they were in New York, getting moved in and settled. Piper associated it now with the life they’d built together, the life that had been their dream since they were twelve years old, finally realized.

She fell asleep to thoughts of home – of New York and Annabeth and a wonderful period of time when she’d managed to convince herself there were no more secrets, there was nothing left to fear, and that she might actually be good enough for someone. 

Whether it was simply the exhaustion or something more significant, for the first time in close to three full weeks Piper slept through the night.


	91. Chapter 91

Annabeth let Piper sleep. It was the least she deserved, especially considering there had been no nightmares to disturb her through the night, as far as Annabeth could tell. The time also gave Annabeth the opportunity to think about what to say once Piper finally woke. She had meant it the night before. They needed to talk and she intended to insist on that conversation at the first opportunity. One way or another, Annabeth was getting the truth.

Letting Piper sleep had the added bonus of giving Annabeth the chance to call Percy back after unceremoniously cutting their call short the night before. She’d barely had a chance to tell Percy all was well before Piper had arrived at her door. Annabeth wasn’t upset Piper had come to her – she much preferred it to Piper suffering alone – but she was looking forward to the chance to talk to Percy, unwind a little.

“So, don’t be mad at me,” Percy said, first thing after picking up her call.

That was definitely not what she wanted to hear from her boyfriend first thing in the morning after a rough night. Annabeth braced herself. “Just get it out quick.”

“I _might_ have let slip what happened to Jason last night,” he replied, and Annabeth could hear the wince in his voice. “For a hot second he was about to jump on a plane and meet you guys out in Malibu, but there were no more flights out until morning and I managed to talk him out of using his family jet for the trip. No damage done. Once you called to let me know everyone was healthy and happy, he calmed down. He ended up crashing on the couch here at the apartment last night, by the way.”

Worrying her bottom lip with her teeth, Annabeth stared at the massive mug of coffee she’d poured herself. Sitting in the McLean kitchen, with bright Malibu summer sunlight pouring in through the windows, it might have seemed like an idyllic Wednesday morning. In a lot of ways it was – Piper had a beautiful new baby sister, had managed to sleep undisturbed through the night, and everyone she loved was safe and relatively healthy. All Annabeth could think about was what Piper had said the night before.

_I wasn’t good enough._

“He would have found out sooner or later, anyway, and at least you were there to stop him from doing anything too crazy. I know his heart is in the right place, but the last thing Piper needed last night was Jason showing up,” she finally said with a sigh, taking a long drink of the pleasantly bitter liquid in her cup after.

She wondered, though, if that was entirely true. Maybe a big, romantic, crazy gesture was exactly what Piper needed to snap herself out of whatever madness had led to their breakup. The problem was, Annabeth still had no idea _why_ they’d broken up, not beyond the crap Piper had fed her the day of, and how it all tied together with Piper’s nightmares. Without knowing the whole story, Annabeth couldn’t know exactly what Piper needed and, as a result, didn’t trust herself to make those kinds of calls. Jason’s well being mattered, too, and she wouldn’t want to encourage him in any way to make those kinds of gestures if there really were no hope of reconciliation.

“How are you holding up?” Percy asked, clearly relieved she wasn’t upset about the near miss with Jason.

“Fine,” she answered absently, letting her feet swing idly around the kitchen stool she sat on.

Percy huffed a laugh. “Liar.”

“I am,” Annabeth insisted, voice just the tiniest bit whiny. “Nothing I’m feeling compares to what everyone else is going through right now. Piper and Will are still out cold. Tristan stayed at the hospital last night. They’re all probably exhausted. _I’m_ fine.”

“Okay, yeah, maybe that’s what you say to them, but you don’t have to be fine for me,” he said, the hint of a scolding tone in his voice making her lips pull into a smile almost instantly. She could tell he was getting worked up, so she didn’t interrupt him as he continued, “You’re supporting them, taking on a lot of their burdens while they deal with what’s most important, so you pass _your_ burdens on to me. That’s the way this works. So, don’t tell me you’re fine because you’re better off than everyone else, tell me what you’re really feeling.”

By the time he was done, Annabeth’s smile had grown wide. “Well, right this second I’m feeling like I have the most adorable dork of a boyfriend on the planet,” she told him, and though she heard him take a breath to start arguing, she cut him off by continuing, “but overall, I’m just still worried about Piper. She managed to sleep through the night finally, but she still had a rough go of it before that. I think it’s time I make her tell me the whole truth about what happened the night of graduation.”

“If you can get her to, let’s make a deal,” Percy said, sounding surprisingly serious.

“What deal?”

“You don’t tell me what she says, even if she’s okay with it,” he said, his tone heavy and resolute. “From here on out, you take care of Piper and I take care of Jason, and we don’t share details so we don’t have to keep secrets from them or risk accidentally saying something we shouldn’t.”

Annabeth considered the suggestion, taking another sip of her coffee. On the one hand, she did like the idea of not having to keep Jason’s secrets from Piper, of having to watch what she said or risk spilling something she shouldn’t. On the other hand, she didn’t like the idea of _not_ sharing everything with Percy, mostly because it had become so natural to share. It wouldn’t necessarily have to be forever, of course. Eventually Jason and Piper would either get back together or move on to the point where secrets became irrelevant.

“What if I think you should know what she tells me for Jason’s sake?” Annabeth asked, her brow furrowing as she considered the possibility. If her suspicions were right and Piper’s reason for breaking up had something to do with that meeting with Jove Grace, there was a good chance more than just Jason’s relationship with Piper could be at stake for him.

She flashed back yet again to that evening in Jason’s room, life returning to his eyes when she had accidentally told him something she hadn’t even known was a secret. Jason wanted to know the truth, needed and deserved to know it. Betraying Piper’s trust should have been unimaginable, but even just sitting there on that kitchen stool, Annabeth couldn’t help thinking she might have to.

“No dice,” Percy answered, though she could hear the difficulty with which he was making this decision in his voice. “What Jason does and doesn’t need to know should be up to Piper, and vice versa. This will keep us from choosing for them before they’re ready.”

 _Except the two of them might be massive idiots who don’t even know what’s best for themselves_ , Annabeth wanted to say, but she held her tongue. It wasn’t Annabeth’s relationship or her choice to make. Sharing what she did with Jason had been an accident, because she’d thought he already knew it. If she distanced herself from Jason in regards to Piper, let Percy handle his side of break up difficulties, she wouldn’t be tempted to betray Piper’s confidence.

The biggest barrier came in the shape of Annabeth’s deep desire to know what conclusion Jason had come to a few weeks before. She had already tangled herself up in Jason’s side of things, even unintentionally. If Jason came to her first, though, that would be different than hearing things second hand from Percy. Jason would be choosing to share that information with her, and while it wouldn’t save her from the burden of keeping secrets from Piper, she did find comfort in knowing she would be the only one to blame if one day she slipped up again. Annabeth might have been stuck in the middle already, but Percy didn’t need to be.

“Okay, deal,” she agreed, though she knew it was likely to be an agreement she struggled to keep. Whether she liked it or not, she did think Percy had a point, and she wondered if he was suggesting it to keep himself accountable just as much as Annabeth worried about herself. They were both going a little crazy with the overwhelming desire to just _fix it_.

Shuffling from down the hall told Annabeth she was about to have company, and a bleary eyed Piper joined her a few seconds later. “Piper is up,” she told Percy, wishing he was there in person so she wouldn’t be cut off from him once she hung up the phone.

“Give her my love,” Percy replied, understanding without needing to be told that this meant she had to go. They exchanged a few more affectionate words and then Annabeth reluctantly ended the call.

Piper had just poured a cup of coffee and was headed to the fridge to look for milk or creamer when Annabeth tucked her phone into her pocket. “I interrupted your call with Percy again.”

“We were mostly done talking anyway,” Annabeth assured her, turning on the stool to face forward. It was probably a lie, considering they likely would have kept talking indefinitely until an eventual interruption, but that didn’t matter. The important things had been said. “He sends his love, and he wants us to send him pictures of Elena today.”

“Has Will been up yet?” Piper asked, her brow furrowed as she examined a bottle of almond milk creamer, shrugged, and then moved to pour an ungodly amount into her cup. When she was finished that mug had to be more creamer than coffee.

Having long learned not to comment on Piper’s taste in coffee, Annabeth just shook her head. “I was going to let you both sleep another hour or so. Did you call your boss?”

“First thing when I woke up, yeah,” Piper answered, heaving a heavy sigh. “She didn’t sound _too_ happy about the sudden time off, but she understood. I promised to come in over the weekend to catch up once we’re back and that seemed to satisfy her.”

Annabeth nodded, relieved to hear as much. Piper had been nervous about the prospect of causing problems at work by running off without warning. Already she’d been given a lot of leeway with the planned trip to Rome. The last thing Piper wanted was to come across as flaky or unreliable. Family emergencies couldn’t be helped, but not many employers were understanding of that fact. Her job had been something Piper was willing to risk in order to be there in Malibu all the same.

These kinds of things were the reasons Annabeth couldn’t believe Piper had broken up with Jason just because of a little outside meddling. Piper sacrificed for the people she loved, even when they probably didn’t deserve it. Jason deserved those kinds of sacrifices, not because he was a wonderful person, but because he would make those same sacrifices for Piper were the shoe on the other foot. Annabeth had harbored a few doubts about how Piper would handle the pressure Jason’s family might put on them, but she’d never thought Piper would give up before even trying.

“Are we going to have that talk now?” Annabeth asked, deciding to bite the bullet.

With a sigh, her shoulders slumping, Piper set her mug on the kitchen counter. “Yeah, I guess we should get it over with.”

Not once had Annabeth said out loud that she didn’t believe the story Piper had told her, so it felt freeing to finally ask the question that had been nagging at her for weeks. “What did Jason’s dad _really_ say to you the night of graduation?”

“He tried to buy me off,” Piper answered without hesitation. “He offered me a whole five million dollars to break up with Jason.”

Annabeth shouldn’t have, but she laughed. It was a bit manic, inspired by sheer disbelief – not because she thought Piper would lie to her again, but because the absolute ridiculousness of someone trying to buy _Piper McLean_ off was too much to fathom. Piper had no need of money, and even if she did, she would never prioritize the need of something so worldly over a person she loved. “What happened when you told him to fuck off?”

The smallest hint of a smile played at Piper’s lips and Annabeth knew Piper was relieved there was no question in her mind that massively insulting offer had been declined. It didn’t last long, though, because Piper began to explain what happened after the bribe had been offered and rejected. Rage simmered in Annabeth’s stomach as Piper recalled the file Jove Grace had presented and all it had contained, never going into explicit detail, but telling enough to make the severity clear, until everything was laid out and Annabeth felt like that rage might boil over completely.

All the pieces fell into place at once – the fear, the secrets, the nightmares. It was no wonder Piper had been so desperate to keep the truth to herself, when she must have felt like one wrong move, a single thoughtless choice, might result in attacks on everyone she loved. Those were people Jason loved, too, and while Annabeth still didn’t think keeping him in the dark had been the _right_ choice, she at least understood why Piper had thought ending things would be what was best for him.

As a very unwanted cherry on top of the shit sundae, Piper’s words the night before made sense, not that it made Annabeth like them any more than she had when they were a mystery. That, Annabeth decided, was the most hateful thing of all – making Piper feel like she lacked in any way shape or form. Piper McLean was an exceptional human being, someone resilient and compassionate, unconditionally devoted to the people she loved. Anyone who couldn’t see that, anyone who thought those weren’t the most desirable traits in a partner for their child, had no heart of their own.

“Why didn’t you just tell Jason what happened?” Annabeth asked. She understood the fear Piper had grappled with, but the question still begged to be asked.

Piper shrugged, bringing her mug up to her lips and taking a drink from it, probably to give her time to think through an answer. “I was scared. Jove told me explicitly not to tell Jason. I didn’t know what he would do if I did. And, honestly, I don’t know what Jason would be able to do about it, anyway.”

“Jason deserves to know the truth,” Annabeth said, trying not to sound as frustrated as she felt. Already she half wanted to call him up and let him know herself – which, she realized, had been Percy’s entire point about their deal. Keeping this from Jason just didn’t seem right, though. If his dad had declared war on the people he cared about, he needed to know.

“I’m not as scared as I was a few weeks ago, but the other two points haven’t changed,” Piper replied, shaking her head, and despite the resolve in her voice Annabeth thought a hint of fear remained in her eyes. Part of Piper was still scared and Annabeth didn’t blame her for it one bit. They _should_ be scared, but part of dealing with that fear should also be hunkering down and depending on each other, not keeping secrets and running away.

“There’s nothing Jason would be able to do about this,” Piper continued. “He couldn’t even tell his dad no about the inheritance, Annabeth. How is he going to stand up to this kind of threat? It’s exactly what he’s been afraid of his dad doing his entire life. And if I tell Jason and Jove finds out, the things in that file will end up weaponized anyway. Do you want that article about Luke to be published? What about Percy and Bianca? If even just one of those two things happened, at the hands of his own father, Jason would be distraught with guilt on top of all the other fallout. I won’t let that happen to him, to any of you.”

Annabeth set her mug down heavily and turned to stare at the tiled kitchen wall. Her mind worked on overdrive, trying to process this new information, to see through Piper’s eyes and understand where she was coming from. Reminding herself _Piper_ wasn’t the one to be mad at wasn’t difficult, but she hated not having someone to direct her anger at. Jove hadn’t just attacked Piper, or even just Jason. It had been an attack on all of them, on everyone they loved. Annabeth wasn’t built to just sit around and accept that, but at the same time she had no idea how any of them would even begin to fight back.

They needed to, though. They _had_ to fight back. People like Jove weren’t supposed to win. Annabeth didn’t care if that sounded naive or idealistic – she refused to sit by and live in a world where that kind of self serving cruelty could win unchallenged.

“Are you upset I didn’t tell you sooner?” Piper asked, her voice small and shaky.

Instantly Annabeth looked back at Piper. “No,” she answered without hesitation, though admittedly a little surprised herself with how confident that answer was. “No, I’m not upset with you. I know you were scared. I know you needed time to process this yourself. But… Piper, you know this isn’t about you, right?”

Still shaken, Piper stared back at Annabeth. “What isn’t?”

“Jason’s dad doing this,” Annabeth replied, allowing herself to put a little anger behind the words to make them resonate. “It’s not because you aren’t good enough. This is about that asshole not actually caring what’s best for Jason. A big part of it is probably that he realizes he wouldn’t be able to control you, and that you wouldn’t let him get away with controlling Jason, either.”

Examining her mug closely, Piper appeared lost in thought, her expression hard for Annabeth to read and unmistakably heartbreaking. “I highly doubt that,” Piper finally said.

“It’s true, Piper,” Annabeth insisted, reaching as far as she could across the counter and offering her hand to her best friend. When Piper took it, Annabeth squeezed hard. “Remember what I said in my letter? You are the most amazing person I have ever known. I knew that at fourteen and I’m more confident about it now than I’ve ever been. Anyone who can’t see that is trash.”

“Last night I was just tired and drained and vulnerable,” Piper was quick to respond, though she didn’t sound very confident.

There was more to it than that, Annabeth knew. Instinct had Annabeth shying away from pushing, screaming to be as gentle as possible, as if Piper were a fragile package, at risk of breaking if handled too heavily. Piper was already at her breaking point. Handling with care might postpone the inevitable, but they’d get there soon enough no matter what. A crack after a careful push now would be better than full on shattering later.

“Jason feels the same way I do,” Annabeth told her, holding tight to Piper’s hand. “It might seem like there’s nothing he can do, and maybe you’re right in thinking so, but by keeping this from him you’re not even giving him a chance to try. Let him make the choice himself.”

Pulling her hand away, Piper shook her head. “This is the decision I’ve made. It’s better that we just accept the cards we’ve been dealt and move on.”

“Pip–”

“I’m going to go wake Will up so we can head to the hospital before it gets too late,” Piper said, putting an end to the conversation. There would be no more discussing it, primarily because Piper walked away before Annabeth even had a chance to speak another word.

It was Piper’s choice, Annabeth had to remind herself. That truth left a bitter taste in her mouth. All she could think about was the choice _Jason_ was being robbed of, and how much she would have hated being in his shoes – more or less ignorant, confused, brokenhearted, all while the person she loved suffered alone in her place.


	92. Chapter 92

With Naomi’s help, they convinced Tristan to come back to the house with them that night. He was exhausted, and while Naomi’s hospital room had a pull out couch that had provided him a decent place to sleep the night before, hospitals were never particularly restful places. A night’s rest at home, in his own bed, would not only make him feel better, but allow him to better support Naomi the next day. Plus, Piper got the impression Naomi felt guilty he was suffering so much on her behalf. She would be happier knowing he was taking care of himself, too.

Piper had to admit, she was kind of impressed he hadn’t even _tried_ to go do anything work related the whole day. A few times his phone and gone off and, though he’d answered it each time, Tristan had kept each conversation short, only saying enough to promise to call whoever it was on the other end of the line back in a day or two. Once she might have been bitter about this change, but it was just as much for her benefit. One of those calls had come while she and Tristan were getting lunch alone together. He had shut it down just as quickly as the others. For the first time in as long as she could remember Piper had enjoyed a full half hour of her dad’s undivided attention.

As she sat in the kitchen with him that night, watching him shovel down some leftover lasagna, Piper was reminded of something Annabeth had said before the wedding. It had seemed impossible to Piper at the time, but she was growing more certain by the minute it was true – Naomi had made Tristan want to be a better version of himself, and he was actually kind of pulling it off. Whether he could manage it long term, they’d have to wait and see, but she could appreciate this new side of him, his new order of priorities, and the effort being made.

“Thanks for that, Pipes,” he sighed once his plate was cleaned.

Piper laughed. “I just found it in the fridge and microwaved it, so it was absolutely no problem.”

Running his hand through his hair, Tristan smiled at her. He’d done that a lot over the course of the day, just smiled at her, sometimes when they were talking, sometimes when he simply looked at her across a room. Every time it surprised her. 

“You look so much like your mother,” he told her, settling back on the kitchen stool. “I don’t think I’d realized it until you were here in February, but now it’s all I can see.”

“No I don’t. I’m practically a gender bent clone of you,” she said, her lips turning down in confusion, heart beginning to race with a hint of panic. Not only was the idea that she looked like anyone but Tristan absurd, the casual mention of her mother caught Piper off guard. Not once over the years had they ever spoken about Piper’s mother. That the woman still crossed Tristan’s mind at all came as a massive surprise.

Tristan shook his head, still smiling. “Your eyes and your smile, they’re hers. The way you laugh, too, it’s just like her. That weekend, after the wedding, I heard you laughing from upstairs and I could have sworn it was your mother.”

Just that morning Piper had stood in almost the same spot having an uncomfortable conversation with Annabeth. She’d been avoiding thinking about all they’d said. A little part of her was annoyed by how insistent Annabeth had been about telling Jason the truth. She didn’t want to consider maybe Annabeth was right about it. 

Now she stood face to face with her dad, another uncomfortable topic at hand, one significantly more dangerous, with questions on the tip of her tongue. Asking them would be easy, but the answers very likely hard. Those answers might go a long way to helping her deal with the worst of her pain, though. She decided to ask the question that had been plaguing her since the moment she’d read the announcement about Tristan’s wedding first. 

“Why didn’t you marry Mom when I was born?”

No signs of surprise crossed Tristan’s features, but his smile did fade, replaced with a sullen sadness that seemed to go so deep it might very well have touched his soul. “I wanted to,” he answered, dropping his gaze from Piper’s face to look at the empty plate before him. “I proposed to her after she told me she was pregnant, that she wanted to keep you. We were young, but we were in love, and I wanted to do right by both of you.”

“What happened?” Piper pressed, the answer such a surprise to her she could barely wrap her mind around it.

A small smile pulled at his lips, but it didn’t even begin to touch the sadness still in his eyes. “She said no, told me that if we got married then, just because we were having you, we’d end up divorced, probably hating each other, and put you in the middle of it. When she said it, it made sense. We stayed together for a little over a year after that, but it didn’t work in the end. For a long time I thought she had been right. If we’d been married, it just would have caused more problems, we would have been miserable.

“Not a day has gone by the last fifteen years that I haven’t wondered, wouldn’t miserable, divorced and hating each other have been better than how it turned out?” Tristan concluded, finally looking back up at Piper, blinking rapidly to fight off the tears she could see glistening in his eyes. Just as quick he shook his head, looking away again. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t put that on you.”

“I don’t remember much about her. I just kind of have this vague recollection of being happy with her, and a few little details here and there. Those are probably the things that matter most, but I wish I remembered more,” Piper admitted, something she’d only ever told Annabeth. The last few weeks she’d been especially burdened by how little she remembered. Any time she thought of her mom, it was the images flashing through her nightmares.

Despite how tired she knew he was, even though she could tell the topic caused him pain, Tristan sat a little straighter on the kitchen stool. “What do you want to know? My memories aren’t what they used to be, either, but I’ll do my best.”

Tears stung her eyes and Piper shook her head. “Not tonight. Maybe another time, though.”

“Can I tell you one thing?” he asked, surprising her yet again with how intent he seemed to be on the subject, as if he could sense, to some degree, exactly what she was struggling with. Hesitant, Piper nodded. Tristan smiled a little wider. 

“You were about six months old,” he began, smiling wider, the memory stripping the last twenty-two years away and making him look like a strapping young twenty-something himself. “Your mom and I had broken up a few months before that, but we were still on good terms. She called me in the middle of the night and I kind of panicked, but she was laughing. I’d never heard her laugh like that and I was confused at first, but then I heard it – you, in the background, giggling this little baby laugh, and every time she laughed, you laughed again, and she laughed harder, like an endless feedback loop. It was the first time you’d really done it, and she loved it so much, she just wanted me to hear it, too.”

With all the crying Piper had done the night before, she might have thought there were no more tears left, but she’d recently learned the unfortunate lesson that tears were an infinite resource. There in the kitchen she proved it again, her tears spilling over and streaming silently down her cheeks. Immediately she wiped them away, trying to get them under control, but the image was wonderfully easy to imagine and she found herself clinging to it. 

“How did you meet Naomi?” Piper asked, after a deep but shaky breath to steady herself. A change of topic would do her good, help distract her from the tears.

The question seemed to surprise him as much as his mentioning Piper’s mother had surprised her, though it had the opposite effect. Instantly the last of his sadness began to fade from his eyes, his face lighting up. “At the premiere party for the last Jake Steel installment. She was actually there as my co-star’s date.”

“Dad!” Piper found herself nearly shouting, scandalized. Stealing a co-star’s date sounded like something _she_ would do.

“I know, I know,” he quickly replied, shaking his head and laughing. There wasn’t a hint of shame in his expression. “We just had a little conversation that night, nothing much, but I couldn’t stop thinking about her after. I asked around a little, found out they were just good friends – he was there, you know, at the wedding, kept bragging about it all being thanks to him. A few more pointed questions to mutual friends later and she agreed to a date.”

“Will told me you two were engaged before she even got pregnant,” Piper said, feeling emboldened by this new openness between them. “Why didn’t you tell me when it happened? I found out through Twitter notifications. It kind of sucked.”

He took a deep breath and considered the question, putting careful thought into his answer. Piper appreciated that contemplation, that he wasn’t just jumping in with the first excuse he could think of to write it off and earn himself forgiveness. “I guess I thought you wouldn’t care,” he finally admitted. “Maybe it’s more accurate to say – I thought you had a right not to care, and that calling you to tell you about Naomi out of the blue would be… selfish.”

The answer didn’t fully satisfy her, didn’t really do anything to alleviate her pain, but it made sense. Piper had acted like she didn’t care for a long time, mostly as a defense mechanism. If she acted like she didn’t care, told other people she didn’t, then she could almost convince herself it didn’t hurt when she was inevitably let down again. While she’d never explicitly told her dad she didn’t care, putting on the act had become so natural to her it was no wonder he had caught on to it. That indifference, her playing at being apathetic, had only compounded the problem. Without either of them even really noticing, they’d ended up in a vicious cycle.

“I’m sorry,” she told him, meaning it with her whole heart. “I’m sorry I made you think I didn’t care. I did. A lot, actually.”

“I’m the one who should be sorry here, Pipes, and I am,” he replied, the atonement in his voice genuine and comforting, something she’d been craving for most of her life. One apology would not be enough to make up for all the years of his neglect, but like everything else the last two days, it was a start, and a start was better than nothing. A start was exactly what she needed.

Piper smiled, a small and guarded smile, but a real one nonetheless. “Go get some sleep, Dad. I’ll clean up in here.”

Unable to deny he needed that sleep, Tristan nodded and got to his feet. He didn’t just exit, though, instead coming around the kitchen counter to stand in front of Piper. “I’m proud of you,” he told her, then leaned in just enough to press a kiss to her forehead.

A surprising amount of self-control was required to keep her from asking, _For what?_ Piper didn’t feel like she’d done anything in life worth his pride, but she accepted his words with a nod all the same, mostly because she knew objecting would just keep him from sleep that much longer. She watched him shuffle out of the kitchen and toward the stairs in silence, wondering how much of this new Tristan would last, what the changes would mean.

Back in February Jason had said it seemed like Tristan had been trying. Piper hadn’t seen it, but maybe she’d been too preoccupied with her bitterness towards her father to see those attempts. Now she had no space left for bitterness toward Tristan, no energy to spare on it. That, she supposed, was a nice little silver lining to the reality of her broken heart and all the virulence that had come with it.

After tossing her dad’s dishes into the dishwasher, Piper wasn’t particularly in the mood for going to sleep herself. She’d resolved herself to sleeping in her own room that night, knowing if she didn’t Annabeth would just want to _talk_ more. Being the one who didn’t want to talk was weird and Piper didn’t particularly like it, but hopefully in a few months life would have moved forward enough that Annabeth would drop her concerns about telling Jason and they could go back to some semblance of normal.

She was not acknowledging that she knew full well feelings didn’t work that way. They wouldn’t just go away if she ignored them long enough, and the threat from Jason’s father wasn’t going to magically disappear, either. While she’d managed to sleep through a single night, that also didn’t mean she was free of her nightmares again. Piper needed to face her own pain, but she still wasn’t ready.

Instead of up to her room, Piper decided to head down to the beach. The night air was cool, but not chilly, even with the breeze off the ocean ruffling through her hair and t-shirt. Piper plopped herself down right in the sand on the edge of the water and slipped off her shoes so the tide could brush against her toes each time it came in. A clear sky and a crescent moon overhead made the scene picturesque, something that could have come straight out of one of her dad’s movies, and there in Malibu more stars were visible than she’d ever be able to see in light polluted New York.

Piper wrapped her arms around her own shoulders and rested her elbows on her knees, staring out over the dark horizon. She expected to be alone with her thoughts, and she was for a few minutes, but soon Annabeth appeared and dropped down beside her. 

As she untied her own sneakers and set them next to Piper’s sandals, then stretched her legs out in front of her just in time for the tide to wash over her bare legs, Annabeth didn’t say anything. Even though Piper was still a little on edge from that morning, a little afraid to face Annabeth one on one again so soon, it didn’t feel intrusive. If anything, the company was reassuring.

No matter how angry they had gotten at each other over the years, how annoyed or frustrated they’d become, moments of silent companionship had always remained comforting. They got angry because they felt strongly about each other. They got annoyed because they saw the worst sides of each other. They got frustrated because they wanted the best for each other. When even their negative emotions were so grounded in love, forgiveness came easily.

And, really, there wasn’t anything particularly in need of forgiving in this case. Most of Piper’s issues were with herself.

“I don’t mind if we stay a few extra nights, you know,” Annabeth finally said, leaned back on her arms and staring up at the starry sky. “It seemed like you made some progress with your dad today, and I know you can’t get enough of Elena. It’s okay for you to want to stay through the weekend.”

Earlier in the day, Piper had decided it was best they head back to New York the next morning. Will would stay, probably for a few weeks until Elena was well enough to actually come home. Tristan and Naomi hadn’t had time to finish the nursery, since the baby had come so early, and he was going to help get all those last minute preparations done. Piper was admittedly a little jealous. She did want to stay, but she also didn’t want to miss more than a couple days of work, even if her boss had said it was alright. Going home was the right call.

“Once she’s out of the hospital, I’m sure we can convince Dad and Naomi to visit,” Piper replied, letting out a bittersweet sigh.

Annabeth turned her gaze to Piper, and even in the dark Piper could see those storm cloud eyes churning with the power of her thoughts. “You’re going to convince your dad to visit, huh?”

“Maybe,” Piper conceded, unable to keep herself from smiling. “Elena will probably be strong enough to travel by my birthday, so I might invite them to visit for that. Will’s birthday is less than two weeks later, so they could make a vacation of it, stay in the city for a while.”

“Percy isn’t going to be able to talk about anything but Naomi’s mac and cheese as soon as he finds out they’re coming,” Annabeth replied, returning her gaze to the ocean, a smile pulling at her lips. Piper had a feeling that smile had more to do with the desire to have them visit than with Percy or mac and cheese, though. This was a development Annabeth had been hoping for since before the wedding in February.

They fell silent again, Piper returning to her thoughts. Eventually she leaned over just enough to rest her head on Annabeth’s shoulder, half wishing they could spend the whole night there together on the beach, letting the frigid ocean tickle their toes, enjoying the fresh air. If she asked, she was sure Annabeth would agree to going to get sleeping bags and doing just that, spending their night under the stars, but it was nothing more than another excuse to avoid facing her own bedroom.

As if sensing exactly what Piper was thinking, Annabeth broke the silence a few minutes later. “I’ve done some research about dealing with nightmares. There are a few things we can try, if you’re up to it.”

“You only just did this?” Piper asked, unable to believe Annabeth would have waited so long to start researching. Information was Annabeth’s favorite weapon and Piper couldn’t believe she hadn’t armed herself with as much of it as humanly possible from the first time Piper had woken up screaming weeks ago.

“No,” Annabeth admitted. “I just wasn’t entirely sure what had triggered your nightmares again. Now that I know what’s causing them, maybe we can actually find something that will help.”

Piper laughed lightly, more of a contented sigh than a proper chuckle. “I’m surprised you’re not telling me to make an appointment with Dr. Brunner as soon as we get back.”

“Dr. Brunner has done a lot to help me work through things,” Annabeth replied, her voice colored with amusement, “but I’ve talked to him and I’ve talked to Percy, and they both admit talk therapy isn’t always the most effective course of action. If nothing else we try works, maybe seeing someone would be a good idea, but we don’t have to jump right to it, especially if you’re not comfortable talking to anyone else about what you saw in that file yet.”

That was where they left it, the topic put on hold for another day. Instead they sat on the beach in silence for a little longer, until they both got so cold they began to shiver and decided to head back inside. Annabeth held Piper’s hand as they walked up the beach and to the house, swinging their arms between them like they were little kids.

The nightmare returned, even though Piper had been secretly hoping she’d miraculously cracked the code to making them disappear the night before. She didn’t wake up screaming, though, instead just shooting up in bed, a thin layer of cold sweat on her forehead. For a minute or two, sitting there in the dark, Piper considered just trying to go back to sleep, but she was too lonely, too shaken. Annabeth’s bedroom door had been left unlocked, so Piper let herself in and slipped into bed without a word.

Stirring only slightly, Annabeth rolled over and snuggled in.


	93. Chapter 93

“So, then, in front of everybody, even our parents, even _Estelle_ , Leo’s all, ‘What do you mean you’re not my girlfriend? We have sex!’ and I swear Cal was about to just snap his neck right there, witnesses be damned. So then Cal explains all, ‘You never asked me. You’ve just assumed this whole time.’ We all stood there for like five minutes, just watching them argue about it. Hazel’s soul left her body for a few seconds at one point and Frank – guys, I swear, Frank looked like he was going to faint, like I wanted to offer him a chair or something. Finally Leo was like, ‘Well, then just be my girlfriend!’ and she said, ‘Fine!’ That was it. They gave everybody hugs and all left ten minutes later, like nothing had happened.”

Percy had been filling Piper and Annabeth in on everything they missed the day before, when Leo and Cal had left for Massachusetts, since he’d picked the two of them up at the airport. Between the overall emotional weight of saying goodbye, Frank apparently crying, Estelle throwing a temper tantrum about Leo leaving, and Leo and Cal finally having their confrontation about whether they were actually a couple, it seemed like it had been quite a day to have missed. Annabeth enjoyed Percy’s retelling of the situation almost as much as she would have enjoyed being there herself.

“Cal must have wanted to crawl into a hole from embarrassment, though,” Annabeth replied, her stomach churning sympathetically at the thought.

Since graduation Annabeth had become increasingly fond of Cal, to the point she even kind of considered Cal a proper friend, rather than just an awkward acquaintance. As many differences as Annabeth had seen between them, those things that had made her feel so insecure in comparison, she’d discovered an equal number of similarities – dry senses of humor, short tempers, fierce protective streaks, the preference to keep things private. They related to each other well and Annabeth was sad she’d found such a kindred soul so shortly before Cal had to leave. At least she knew it wouldn’t be their last time seeing each other.

“Is it weird that you and Leo have slept with the same person?” Piper asked, leaning against the elevator wall as they all stepped inside, mirthful eyes shining under the dull florescent lights.

“Gross, Piper,” Annabeth chided, her nose wrinkling as she hit the button for their floor. It was something she’d thought about herself more than she would ever admit, but she’d never once thought of actually _saying_ it.

Draping his arm over Annabeth’s shoulder as she returned to his side, Percy grinned. “Cal and I never slept together.”

“Seriously?” Piper asked, her eyebrows shooting up. Annabeth was sure she wore a similar expression, though the revelation had her oddly excited. Maybe she _should_ have asked sooner, even that first night back in Montauk. It might have saved her a little awkwardness with Cal.

“We only dated for like two months,” Percy replied with a shrug. Both Annabeth and Piper stared at him, and it took Percy far too long to understand the implication of those stares – that he and Annabeth had been dating officially all of four days before they’d first had sex. “I was nineteen! I’d only ever been with my first girlfriend. And it was just different. I knew pretty early on that my heart wasn’t really in the relationship. It just never felt right.”

A tiny smile pulled at Annabeth’s lips. “So it felt right for us, huh?”

“My heart was already in way deep by then, yes,” Percy answered easily, his arm squeezing her a little closer as he leaned down and kissed her.

“I’m going to barf if you two are going to be this cute while I’m still jet lagged,” Piper teased, but her words did nothing to stop Annabeth from pushing up on her toes and snaking her arms around Percy’s neck to keep kissing him even as the elevator jerked to a stop and the doors opened. “Whatever, just stay here so I do–”

Though Annabeth was distracted by Percy’s very persistent tongue, she could tell by the abrupt way Piper cut off and the lack of footsteps that something had _made_ her stop talking. Percy must have realized it, too, because he pulled back at the same time Annabeth did. It took her what felt like a lifetime to process what she was seeing – Piper, standing in the elevator door, keeping it open, and, just beyond her, the last person on the planet Annabeth had ever wanted to see again.

“I was just about to give up and leave. How fortuitous,” Luke said, flashing a sickening smile at the three of them.

The playful, affectionate hold Percy had on Annabeth instantly turned tighter, defensive. He took the smallest step forward, putting himself between Luke and Annabeth, even though Piper stood between them already. In those seconds, Annabeth’s mind continued to struggle to make sense of what was happening, why he would ever be at her door at all.

“Is this the asshole?” Piper asked, jutting her thumb in Luke’s direction as she turned to look back at Annabeth and Percy. It was only then Annabeth realized Piper had never even seen a picture of Luke. The idea was almost absurd, that her best friend wouldn’t know him on sight. The expressions Percy and Annabeth wore must have been enough to answer her question, because Piper turned back around and asked, in the most hateful tone Annabeth had ever heard from her, “What the fuck are you doing here?”

Luke looked around the hallway for a few seconds, his smile unfading. “We should probably talk inside.”

“Yeah, _that’s_ not happening,” Piper replied without hesitation, still standing in the elevator doorway. The doors kept popping out like they were trying to close, only to sense her presence and slide back open every few seconds. The repetition, the jerking sound they made, was distracting, almost comical.

After the umpteenth attempt of the elevator to close, Annabeth shook her head and stepped forward, out of Percy’s protective hold and past Piper toward the apartment door. “I’m not interested in talking to you, Luke, not in my apartment, not in this hallway.”

“You haven’t even heard what I’m here to say,” Luke said, turning to watch Annabeth pass him on her way to the apartment door.

In response to Annabeth’s push toward the apartment, Piper and Percy followed quick behind her. By the time she had the door unlocked, they were a wall between her and Luke, shoulder to shoulder, both with arms crossed. Considering she probably should have been panicked, it was strange for her to realize all she could think about was how the two of them were kind of adorable, their statures so different and yet both equally intimidating in their unique ways. Trying to pierce their defenses would surely be a death sentence.

“She said she’s not interested,” Piper told Luke, her tone deceitfully polite.

“I’m here to deliver a message from your father, Annabeth,” Luke continued, staying calmly on the other side of the Piper-Percy wall, but not backing down.

That gave Annabeth enough pause to turn around and look at him. She hadn’t heard a word from her father since she’d stormed out of his house months before. Honestly, not hearing from him had been kind of nice, considering talking to Fredrick Chase had always been a miserable chore. She wanted, of course, to get back in contact with the twins, but if she’d never heard from Fredrick again, it would have still been too soon. There was a laundry list of implications behind Luke’s presence at her door, especially if it had been _Fredrick_ who’d sent him, and the sheer power of her own curiosity almost made her give in.

Thankfully the momentary glint of triumph in Luke’s eyes killed her instinct to get answers. She didn’t want them if he considered her talking to him a win.

“I don’t give a flying fuck who you’re here to give me a message from, Luke. We’re not talking,” Annabeth told him, and there was nothing quite as sweet as watching his face fall as he realized he’d celebrated his victory prematurely.

Still, he didn’t back down. “Penelope and I are here in the city for a few weeks. We’re staying at the Warwick. Give me a call when you change your mind.” With that out, he turned sharply toward the elevator and pressed the button to summon it back up.

Rolling her eyes, Annabeth opened the apartment door and stepped inside. She didn’t care about waiting to watch him leave, but apparently Piper and Percy both did, because they stayed out there in the hall for another minute or two. In that time Annabeth stormed back to her room, threw the carry on bag she’d taken to Malibu on her desk chair, and then returned to the living room so she could plop down on the couch in an annoyed huff.

“Every time I see that guy, I regret not punching him,” Percy said as he and Piper finally joined her in the apartment. The door closing behind them was a small relief. At least Luke was out of their hair for the time being, although Annabeth wasn’t too excited to know he was in the city and planning on staying for a while.

“You’ve seen him twice,” Annabeth replied, giving both of them a worried once over. They were looking at her more or less the same way, which made more sense than her being worried about them. Luke’s appearance had been so unexpected, though, and she knew both of them had short fuses, especially when it came to protectiveness. That they’d managed to keep so calm impressed her. They were probably equally impressed by Annabeth’s calm.

Like nothing at all had happened, Percy smiled. “Yeah, and both times I’ve regretted not punching him.”

“If he ever shows his face here again, he’s leaving with no testicles,” Piper added, though she wasn’t bothering to smile. She took one look back at the door, her nose wrinkled, and then abandoned her bag where she stood so she could throw herself down on the couch and wrap her arms around Annabeth. It felt amazingly good to be enveloped in those arms.

“Are you okay?” Percy asked, sobering a little. He remained standing, a few feet away from her, his arms still crossed to hide the tight balls his fists were curled into, evident in the flex of his forearms. The calm was an act, she realized, one he was just barely maintaining for her sake.

Annabeth nodded, slipping her arms back around Piper. “Surprisingly, yeah. I’m… confused, a little annoyed, but other than that, I feel fine.”

It was truer than she’d realized until she said the words aloud. Annabeth _did_ feel fine. She definitely didn’t want to see him again, but his presence hadn’t made her feel on edge or vulnerable. Her stomach hadn’t even soured the way it had when talking to him back in San Francisco. Looking him in the eyes hadn’t been the terrifying, day ruining experience it once was. She’d even had the cognizance while facing him to choose not to fall into the trap he laid by bringing up her father.

Thinking about it all that way, she actually felt kind of good about the encounter, proud of herself.

“He said he was here with his wife,” Percy said, his top lip curling into a sneer of distaste. “Does that mean she didn’t leave his sorry ass after everything you told her?”

That was something Annabeth had only just barely registered when Luke had said it, and she shook her head. “He’d seemed confident she would forgive him if she found out, so I guess so. I’d hoped the letters he wrote me would make her change her mind, but I don’t even know for sure she bothered to read them.”

Piper clung to Annabeth a little bit tighter. “If he’s here with her and for a few weeks, that means he probably didn’t come just to talk to you, right? Why else would he be here?”

“And why the hell would your dad think it was even remotely okay to send him to talk to you?” Percy added, the disgust on his face only deepening.

“I do kind of want to know what my dad has to say,” Annabeth admitted, looking to Piper first and then cautiously turning her gaze to Percy. He was obviously on edge, probably dealing with a massive surge of adrenaline on top of all his other conflicting emotions, and she didn’t want to upset him with the confession. 

Percy looked back at her, his mouth turned down into grimace and his eyebrows furrowing deeper with every passing second. Annabeth wondered if he was thinking the same thing she was – about Luke’s comments back in San Francisco, and how now Luke had even more information they wished they could get their hands on. They’d agreed not to bring that exchange up to Piper, and Percy didn’t know what Piper had told Annabeth about the file, so only Annabeth had a full picture of where they stood, all they potentially had to gain by facing Luke. She wanted answers, hated not having them.

Except she didn’t have to be the only one who knew, and she had a sinking suspicion Jason could help her find even more answers. He might already have a few of his own. She couldn’t tell him, though. Not only would telling him mean betraying Piper’s trust, Annabeth had agreed with Percy about drawing a metaphorical line in the sand where Piper and Jason were concerned. If Annabeth approached Jason about this first, it would be behind _both_ their backs.

Swallowing hard, his shoulders squared and his forearms again flexing from the force with which his fists were still balled, Percy gave one, curt nod. “Whatever you need to do, Beth.”

“Are you serious?” Piper asked, pulling back enough to look between Annabeth and Percy. Annabeth wasn’t sure which of them Piper was asking – Percy for agreeing so readily, or Annabeth for suggesting she wanted to at all.

The tension in Percy’s posture and the incredulity in Piper’s expression made Annabeth hesitate. Talking to Luke was a crazy idea, possibly even a bad one. He wouldn’t have shown up on her doorstep if he didn’t think he had the upper hand, though Annabeth wasn’t sure what his upper hand might have been. She also couldn’t imagine her father would have sent him to talk to her if _he_ didn’t have some kind of ulterior motive, too. There was enough going on in her life, between trying to help conquer Piper’s nightmares and everything going on with Jason, to Nationals only a little over a week away for Percy. Allowing Luke to even get two words in edge wise could throw a wrench into an already very unstable situation.

It could be worth it, though, if confronting Luke could give them some kind of advantage against Jason’s dad or lead to connecting back up with the twins.

“I’ll have to talk to Dr. Brunner about it on Tuesday,” she told them both, deciding she needed another, outside, perspective if she was going to sort through her jumbled, conflicting thoughts.

Nodding, Percy ran both his hands through his hair a few times and then let out a sigh. “I should probably get back to the gym. I promised coach I’d get some weight time in today.”

Any other time, Annabeth might have whined about him leaving so soon after they got back, but she knew it wasn’t just about his promise to coach. That adrenaline coursing through his veins needed to be worked off, his frustration needed an outlet, and she didn’t want to be so selfish as to ask him not to do what he needed when he would offer her unconditional support no matter what she decided. They hadn’t talked about the last Luke inspired argument they’d had a few weeks before. Annabeth realized they would probably need to have a conversation about it once he’d calmed himself down and a little distance had been put between them and this incident.

Piper slowly untangled herself from Annabeth and went to grab her bag. “I’m going to go unpack,” she said pointedly, and then shuffled off down the hall toward her room.

“I’m not mad,” Percy said immediately, though the way his eyebrows had creased again and the heaviness of his voice didn’t give his claim much credit.

Annabeth rose and crossed the living room to where he stood. For a second she hesitated to close the gap completely, but he opened his arms to her and she stepped into them gladly. “ _If_ I decide to call him,” she started, taking Percy’s face in her hands and brushing her thumbs against his cheeks, “it won’t be a decision I make lightly, and it won’t be a decision I make alone.”

“How are you the calm one right now?” he asked, his arms wound firmly around her waist.

“Because nothing and no one can touch me as long as I have you and Piper here with me,” she answered, pressing herself a little closer to him.

His eyes were still flooded with concern, but Percy didn’t say another word. Instead he leaned down and kissed her. Annabeth was happy to kiss him back, letting him melt away whatever hints of anxiety had threatened to upend her calm with the gentle knead of his lips and sturdiness of his body against hers. As the seconds turned to minutes, her arms wound around his neck and she pulled herself closer. It never failed to amaze her how just kissing him could set her whole body ablaze, and that even in the heat of summer she craved that sensation just as much as when it had offset the chill of winter.

“I really did promise coach,” Percy mumbled against her lips after they’d been standing there together for several minutes. She could feel his smile, putting the worst of her worries at ease.

Kissing him a few more times, a series of much lighter pecks, she forced herself to break away properly. “Don’t work too hard, though,” she told him, playful and light. “Save a little energy for when you get back tonight.”

“You sure you’ll be in the mood for that?” he asked, and though he was trying to match her tone, she could tell from the worry leaking back onto his expression that he meant the question more genuinely than he was letting on.

Pushing up on her toes so she could kiss him one more time before pulling away entirely, she smiled and nodded. “Very sure,” Annabeth confirmed, and she really was. All the way home she’d been thinking about how badly she just wanted to get lost in Percy, and she wasn’t going to let Luke’s unwelcome appearance derail the happiness she’d become so accustomed to. Luke no longer held that power over her.

“Then I won’t work _too_ hard,” Percy agreed, lingering there in front of her for a few more seconds as a smile spread across his face.

Once the door was closed behind him, Annabeth felt a little pang of longing, wishing he could have stayed. She didn’t feel as affected by Luke as she would have been months before, but Percy’s presence was a comfort all the same, a buffer against the worst of her thoughts. Thankfully Piper had heard the door and emerged almost immediately from her bedroom to ask what Annabeth wanted to order for dinner. Annabeth’s best friend was, as always, just as effective at keeping her mood in optimal condition.

“You know what was weird?” Piper asked, an hour or so later, over Chinese food and a documentary about coral reef bleaching – they’d flipped a coin and Annabeth had won the right to choose what they watched.

“That this place delivered twice as fast as our usual even though it’s farther away?” Annabeth asked, examining her takeout container curiously. “And that it still tastes better?”

Piper snorted, giving Annabeth a gentle shove with her foot. “No, I’m not talking about dinner.”

That nabbed Annabeth’s attention, and she turned to look at Piper. “What was weird, then?”

“I thought he was Jason for a few seconds,” Piper replied, her eyes unfocused as she stared past the TV at the wall, poking at her food. It looked like she’d barely eaten any of it, even though Annabeth was almost halfway through her meal and Piper tended to be the quicker eater between them.

It took Annabeth a few seconds to realize what Piper was talking about, and then she was blinking in confusion. “Wait, you mean _Luke_?”

“Yeah,” Piper confirmed. “It was just for a few seconds, but… they’re about the same height, with similar enough builds, that blonde hair. Even when he turned around, I saw his eyes first and had to do a double take.”

“They’re both tall, with blonde hair and blue eyes, yeah,” Annabeth agreed, though she’d never thought much about the similarities. There were plenty of blonde haired, blue eyed guys in the world. Will, though not quite as tall as either of them and with longer, more golden hair, was blonde haired and blue eyed, too. “I mean, was it weird or was it just wishful thinking?”

“Right, yeah, I probably… I don’t know,” Piper said, shaking her head as if to dispel her own thoughts.

“Probably,” Annabeth repeated, though as she studied Piper’s face she got the feeling that explanation wasn’t satisfactory. She wasn’t sure that explanation satisfied her, either.


	94. Chapter 94

“Annabeth, it’s Saturday, I’m supposed to be able to sleep in,” Piper groaned, rolling over in bed and grabbing for the blankets Annabeth had just ripped away from her.

There was no pity in Annabeth’s voice or expression. “It’s eight. You wake up for work at four. This is sleeping in. Now, get your ass up. We’re going for our jog.”

Groaning again like the giant baby she was, Piper forced herself to sit up and glared at her best friend. No amount of glaring would make Annabeth back down, though, so Piper knew it was a futile gesture. Daily runs were part of the regimen Annabeth was implementing to try offsetting Piper’s recurring nightmares. They’d opted not to start the day before, since they were both a little jet lagged from the trip to Malibu and Piper wanted to go into work, but Annabeth had refused to wait any longer.

Piper’s boss had not been upset with her for having to miss a couple days without notice, and there hadn’t been much for her to catch up on when she got back to the office on Friday. Still, she wanted to make sure she carried her weight, so Piper also intended to go into the office that afternoon and finish up the few things she hadn’t been able to complete in her single day back. Working made her feel good, useful. She enjoyed her job already, even though it wasn’t anything particularly glamorous, and she liked her coworkers. Those were things she considered herself lucky for and she didn’t want to take it for granted.

“Is he not coming with us?” Piper asked with a nod toward Percy, her mood already a little better, when she had changed into shorts and a tank top and joined Annabeth in the living room.

Percy snorted a laugh from his seat at the kitchen counter, one cheek full of the eggs and toast he was shoveling down. “You wouldn’t be able to keep up with me, McLean.”

“You’re a swimmer, not a runner, Jackson,” Piper shot back, noticing the smile that pulled at Annabeth’s lips.

“I’ve gone for a three mile run almost every day since I was thirteen,” he replied, a challenge in his eye that Piper knew she wouldn’t be able to meet. Percy was an athlete who had been competing and training since he was in elementary school. Piper did yoga at home three times a week and had spent a day a week for less than two months learning to box. They were not the same.

She stuck her tongue out at him all the same. “Yeah, well, in ten years, you’re going down.”

“I’ll look forward to it!” Percy called as Annabeth dragged Piper out the door, mumbling about both of them being ridiculous.

Mid June in the city meant even in the morning there was no risk of cold. The sun was out, warming Piper’s skin where the atmosphere failed, and it wasn’t long before she’d worked up a thin layer of sweat as she and Annabeth weaved through other pedestrians making their way down the sidewalk. Since Piper hadn’t done much intensive exercise in recent years, they decided to start with a one mile jog out to a cafe they liked, where they’d grab breakfast and rest, then jog another mile back home. On weekdays they would probably skip the stop for breakfast, but on their first day it sounded like a nice goal to work towards.

Along with daily jogs, Annabeth’s research had brought up a few more ideas. While Piper had continued to wake in the middle of the last two nights in cold sweats, the screaming did seem to have finally stopped. Still, when she did wake up, she now had a diary kept next to her bed where she had been instructed to write down everything she felt in those anxious moments to remember more clearly once she was ready to talk about it. Annabeth was going to go shopping that afternoon while Piper went to work for a diffuser to try some aromatherapy. Aside from a cup of herbal tea, Piper was no longer allowed to eat or drink anything for the three hours before she went to sleep, and TV and phone time ended thirty minutes before bed – no matter the day of the week or what was going on, Piper _had_ to go to sleep at the same time. Caffeine and alcohol were out altogether (except for chocolate, which Piper had insisted she could not live without), at least until the nightmares were under control, and each evening an hour was cut out of her schedule for yoga and meditation.

Being more or less forced to do all this might have annoyed Piper, but Annabeth was doing it all with her. From the jogs, to the bedtime, all the way down to the dietary changes, Annabeth had promised they would do it together. It was hard to complain when she knew it was for her benefit and Annabeth had volunteered to make all the same sacrifices.

Out on that first jog, her lungs already burning from the strain for oxygen, the ambient noise of the city and her own heavy footfalls all she could hear, Piper watched Annabeth a few paces ahead. Annabeth had tied her hair back, curls bouncing with every step, sparkling like threads of gold in the sun. She made it look easy, effortless, even as her skin glistened with sweat just the same as Piper’s. Thursday evening, Piper had felt the same about Annabeth making things seem easy. Luke had stood there in front of their apartment and Annabeth had faced him down like he was nothing. Piper knew that strength was hard fought, something Annabeth had struggled and worked toward, but that only made it more amazing.

If it had been Annabeth called into a seedy office meeting and blackmailed to break up with Percy, Piper wondered what she would have done. It was hard to imagine Annabeth cracking under the pressure, rolling over and taking the order. There was no way Annabeth would have risked the well being of all the people she loved, either, though. Annabeth would have found another way, or made another way if one couldn’t simply be found.

Annabeth would have walked right out of that meeting and told Percy everything without hesitation.

Before Piper knew it, they’d arrived at the cafe. Annabeth smiled as she stood outside the door, hands on her hips while she caught her breath and soaked in the sunshine. Piper could only imagine she looked like a walking disaster in comparison, bending over with her hands on her thighs as she huffed and puffed in a desperate bid for enough oxygen. Annabeth had always been more athletic than Piper, all the way back to middle school, and Piper supposed it made sense that Annabeth’s semester dating her swim instructor had only resulted in that difference in athleticism growing.

“We made good time,” Annabeth said, somehow able to laugh even though she was still fairly breathless. “In a week or two we can probably add a mile.”

“Please don’t make me even think about adding miles right now,” Piper whined, holding her aching flank and scrunching up her entire face in disgust.

Laughing again, Annabeth opened the cafe door for Piper. “Then think about coffee and avocado toast.”

“Why would I be thinking about coffee when I can’t have caffeine?” Piper asked, nose wrinkled even as she stepped inside and the wave of heavenly AC instantly refreshed her. An onslaught of delectable scents overwhelmed her senses in the same moment – coffee, fresh baked pastries, toasting bread.

“You can still have coffee, just get decaf,” Annabeth replied easily, looking at Piper like she was crazy.

In Piper’s opinion, Annabeth was the crazy one. “Who drinks coffee for anything but the caffeine?”

“Me,” Annabeth answered as they took their spot in line.

“Yeah, well, you suck Percy’s dick, so there’s no accounting for taste,” Piper teased, her voice dropped to a whisper and her lips pulled into an all too self-congratulatory smile.

Piper got the exact reaction she was hoping for, Annabeth all but screaming her name and exploding into a flurry of irate smacks and shoves. Though Annabeth’s cheeks were already pinked from the exertion of their run, they turned a deeper shade of red, filling Piper with glee. 

“Are you going to deny it?” Piper asked, taunting even though she knew it would only end in more violence.

“I’m going to throw you into a trash can, is what I’m going to do,” Annabeth answered with another shove. Not a denial, though of course Piper had known full well there was never any denying it. While slightly less eager than Piper to share anything too explicit, Annabeth had excitedly reported back as she and Percy had taken each step in their physical relationship. And, because Annabeth indulged Piper far too much, she’d still spilled plenty of scandalous little details.

They were still bickering lightly when a voice from behind them said, “Piper McLean? And is that Annabeth Chase?”

Both of them turned, their eyes following the sound of the voice to a young man a few steps behind them in line. He looked familiar, but it took Piper a few seconds to place him. Once she did, she had to actively hold herself back from gagging. “Dylan?”

“Holy shit, it really is you,” Dylan replied, his eyes raking both Piper and Annabeth from head to toe in a gross and unwelcome display. “You two haven’t changed a bit.”

Not since her high school graduation had Piper spared a thought for this particular breed of asshole. Dylan had spent most of those four years hitting on her like his life depended on it – and lashing out at her every time she rejected him, as if calling her a bitch or a whore would suddenly make her more interested in him. He’d been on the varsity football team starting freshman year, from one of the wealthier families even at a school full of kids from wealthy families, and those two things had given him an ego the size of a small planet despite his grades sucking and his personality sucking even harder.

A cursory examination made her think not much had changed about him, either. His dark hair was still overly styled with too much product, making him look like a cheap approximation of Superman in those movies from the eighties. His fashion sense hadn’t evolved at all past the try hard, faux bad boy style he’d sported as a teenager, either. From the way he looked at her, like she wasn’t actually even human, she doubted his personality had changed the same amount as everything else – not at all.

“It really is us,” Piper confirmed, doing her best to remain courteous, but curt, hoping to keep the conversation as short as possible.

“And you seem as close as ever,” he observed, the sneer he wore and the tone of his voice making Piper roll her eyes. Rumors of Piper and Annabeth being more than friends had always abounded and guys like Dylan had often seen them as a combined target. Piper knew exactly what was coming next. “What are you ladies doing tonight? We should have a few drinks, catch up.”

Annabeth flashed him a smile that was more murderous than cordial, draping an arm over Piper’s shoulders. The only person who had hated Dylan more than Piper in high school was Annabeth. “I have plans with my boyfriend tonight.”

“What about you, McLean?” he pressed, managing to hide his disappointment, as if he would have had a chance with Annabeth had Percy not been in the picture. “I know you always wanted to ride The Wind.”

Holding back from gagging yet again pained her physically, but Piper managed it. _The Wind_ had been Dylan’s nickname back on the football team, because he was fast and those knuckleheads had been the least creative people on the planet. “I would rather step on a rusty nail,” she replied. So much for being courteous.

Just as back in the day, being rejected clearly didn’t sit well with Dylan, who curled his lip and leaned forward. “You always acted like you were better than me, McLean, but we both know you were a whore back then and you’re still one now. At least Chase here didn’t act all superior while getting on her knees for half the school’s student body.”

Over the years, Dylan had said worse things to Piper, about her. None of those things had ever bothered her. They’d rolled off her like a water droplet on a windshield, without so much as leaving a mark. In that moment, though, he probably couldn’t have more effectively pushed all her buttons if he had known which ones she was most vulnerable to. It had to be _that word_.

Something in Piper snapped. She’d meekly bowed in the face of men like Dylan too many times – most recently Jove, in that stupid office on the night Piper had let him trick her into ruining her own life. Not again. Piper was done, fed up, exhausted from rolling over and taking whatever egotistical jackasses like the over styled try hard in front of her spouted every day for as long as she could remember.

From behind her, Piper heard Annabeth practically shout, “Piper, no!” It didn’t stop her fist from connecting with Dylan’s nose, and the satisfying _crunch_ that followed was not her own fingers being harmed in the process of throwing that punch. Piper had Dakota Grace to thank for that satisfaction, and a small part of her hoped he would have been proud if he’d been there to see her. She also hoped he would have been amused by the way Dylan crumpled to the ground like the pathetic man child he was.

Probably she should have listened to Annabeth, though, because if she had, Piper wouldn’t have ended up in a holding cell at the police precinct a few blocks away. 

Of course there had been cops in the cafe having coffee and breakfast, and of course Dylan was just the type of douche bag to press charges because he called a girl a whore and she punched him. This wasn’t Piper’s first scuffle. A few times she’d gotten into physical altercations back in school, but they’d usually just ended with the administration doling out detentions and making little notes on her transcript. Unfortunately Piper was an adult now, and adults had to face legal consequences when they resorted to violence.

Already over an hour had passed since she’d been locked in that cell. They needed to take a statement from her before booking her, but Piper wasn’t stupid enough to say a word without a lawyer present, so she was forced to wait. It was the weekend, so she’d probably be in jail until Monday once all was said and done, longer if whatever judge she ended up in front of decided, for whatever reason, not to give her bail, a thought that had Piper sinking into the uncomfortable bench in her holding cell and letting out a groan.

She was _in jail_. Annabeth had probably called Piper’s dad to work out the lawyer situation, which meant he had woken up to the wonderful news that his daughter was _in jail_. Inevitably some tabloid would get wind of the story and then every entertainment news entity in the world would be running headlines about how superstar Tristan McLean’s daughter was _in jail_. So much for going into work that afternoon to make up for her missed days, she’d probably lose her job entirely over the fact she was _in fucking jail_.

It seemed like the perfect conclusion. All Piper’s growth over the previous six months, the changes in her priorities, the experience of actually falling in love, the steps toward healing her relationship with her father, had all been for naught. Ending up in a jail cell wouldn’t have been surprising for Piper before. The fact that it had taken this long was the surprising part, if she really thought about it. This had always been inevitable, the natural conclusion her life of reckless decision making had been hurtling her toward. All she could hope for now was a half decent lawyer and a generous judge, and maybe she’d be able to get off with community service.

Piper settled in to wait, trying not to cry, trying not to think about how thoroughly she had ruined her _own_ sorry life, or the fact that the ruining had started long before she broke Dylan’s nose.


	95. Chapter 95

Annabeth was losing control.

It all happened in the blink of an eye. Piper punched Dylan. Dylan screamed for the police. The police were there. Piper was dragged away.

All Annabeth could think about as she walked the handful of blocks down to the nearest police station was how few _actual_ crimes the police solved. Meanwhile, a young woman who punched a creep in the nose for harassing her got locked up on sight. Lamenting the unfairness of the world had never really been Annabeth’s style. Life sucked. People sucked. It seemed a little extreme for it all to suck _this_ much, though.

Back in high school, Annabeth remembered Dylan throwing plenty of punches, getting in fights he faced little to no consequences for, usually against guys smaller than him. Any half decent person would have shrugged that punch from Piper off, taken the loss knowing full well they’d deserved it for the bile they themselves spewed, but Dylan wasn’t a half decent person. He never had been and he never would be. Unfortunately they were at his mercy all the same.

At the station, Annabeth struggled to get any answers. She wasn’t a lawyer and she wasn’t a legal relation, so they froze her out. In the initial few seconds after Annabeth realized these things, she really almost lost control, came close to falling into the black hole of panic threatening to consume her. Instead of allowing that to happen when Piper needed her so desperately, she sat herself down in one of the plastic bucket seats in the station lobby and planted her face in her hands, forcing herself to _think_.

There were, of course, public defenders surely available. Annabeth had a lot of respect for public defenders, who did a very thankless job for little to no money in return. They were usually stretched thin, though, and might not be able to give Piper the most effective and thorough representation. On top of that, they would also be taken away from someone who probably really needed their help, someone who genuinely couldn’t afford any other options, and Annabeth knew that alone was something Piper would prefer to avoid.

She herself didn’t know any lawyers. The internet existed as a helpful tool and Annabeth could find names or phone numbers quick enough with a Google search, but getting someone there to the station wasn’t so simple. It was the weekend and Annabeth didn’t know how much money she’d need to provide for services up front. While she still had a sizable portion of the money Athena had sent her, Annabeth couldn’t help fearing it wouldn’t be enough.

Instinct made her want to call Percy first, even though she wasn’t sure what he could do aside from come down to the station and sit anxiously by her side. That time would be taken out of his training schedule. In a week they would leave for Omaha and these last few sessions were crucial to get him in the right head space for competition. No, Annabeth would have to wait until she had things under control before calling Percy. Once they knew Piper was at least getting the help she needed, Annabeth would fill him in.

Next on the list, logically, came Piper’s dad. It was only just almost ten in the morning there in New York, which meant it was seven in Malibu. That would be one hell of a wake up call, and an awkward conversation to have on top of it. More importantly, though, Annabeth wasn’t sure Piper would want Tristan called at all. Even though he still had Will there with him, Tristan had a lot on his plate both emotionally and time wise with Elena and Naomi in the hospital. It was hard to imagine Piper being alright adding to that burden with, _Oh yeah, by the way, your daughter was just arrested!_

With those two out of the running, Annabeth found herself coming up short. Probably, considering she was desperate, Annabeth could call her own mother. Athena would likely know lawyers to call, have the resources to get someone there quick even on a weekend. Unfortunately, Annabeth had learned enough about her mother over those few short months to know the woman was extremely judgmental. Athena already disliked Percy, putting it lightly. If she had to get Piper out of a mess like this, odds were she’d end up liking Piper even less than Percy. Annabeth couldn’t deal with her mom hating the two most important people in her life.

Every time she crossed another name off her list of possibilities, Annabeth circled back to one person, one name that stood out above all the rest as the only real, logical option. Piper wouldn’t like it, Annabeth knew that much. He wouldn’t hesitate to help, though, and Annabeth also knew he had plenty of resources to resolve this disaster quickly and quietly. Secretly, somewhat selfishly, he was also the only person she wanted to call, aside from Percy, and the only one she really trusted.

Refusing to give herself time to talk herself out of it again once she finally decided, Annabeth pulled up Jason’s contact and hit call. It rang three times before he picked up, sounding a little disoriented and groggy. “Hey, what’s up?”

Annabeth had never called Jason often, even when he and Piper were together. Usually he was around when she needed or wanted to talk to him. Most of their correspondence the last couple weeks regarding the redecoration of his room had been over text, but it was apparent from his tone that he didn’t think much of her call. He wasn’t worried, just curious. 

She swallowed hard, trying to find the best way to deliver what felt like the most ridiculous news she’d ever been responsible for passing along. “Piper’s been arrested.”

Four beats of silence on the other end of the line and then Jason replied, “Huh?”

“Piper’s been arrested,” Annabeth repeated, feeling nauseous about having to say those words again, then she expanded on what had transpired the last hour or so, ending with her sitting alone in a cold plastic seat and not having any idea what she should or could do.

“Fuck,” Jason groaned when Annabeth had finished, then mumbled the word a few more times. “Okay. I’m on my way. Reyna should know who to call.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, Annabeth settled in to wait after exchanging a few more details with Jason. Her call with Percy after was short, and she could tell even over the phone how unhappy her insistence he not join her made him, but she was confident in that choice. Honestly, Annabeth didn’t particularly want anyone else she cared about having to be part of this experience.

The precinct station was unremarkable – linoleum floors, tiled walls, a simple front desk with a thick layer of what Annabeth assumed was bulletproof glass between visitors and the officers seated behind it. Even on a Saturday morning, the place buzzed with activity. It stunk of body odor, gym socks, and a heavy dose of pine scented disinfectant probably meant to cover up the rest of the smell and failing miserably. Air conditioning made the place artificially chilly, goosebumps springing up all along her arms and legs, unprotected from the threadbare t-shirt and shorts she’d been wearing on that morning jog.

Whenever the front door opened, Annabeth’s eyes flickered to it, only to be disappointed every time the person walking through it wasn’t Jason. Thinking about Piper, alone, isolated, made Annabeth want to be sick even as her stomach ached with hunger. No matter how bad she felt, Piper had to be feeling worse, and so Annabeth couldn’t even bring herself to try getting something to eat from the sketchy vending machine in the corner of the lobby. To think, she’d been so close to coffee and avocado toast before all hell broke loose.

Almost a full hour passed before a familiar head of light blonde hair finally walked into the lobby. Reyna was right behind Jason, along with a woman who appeared to be in her early thirties. While Reyna and the mystery woman approached the front desk, Jason’s eyes scanned the lobby for Annabeth. She rose immediately to her feet and weaved through the steadily growing crowd to meet him, feeling no shame in greeting him with a much needed hug.

“I’m so sorry,” Annabeth told him, as if she had been the one to throw the punch and not Piper. It was hard not to blame herself for being so slow to react, for not physically holding Piper back.

Jason looked like he’d all but rolled right out of bed and come straight there. His hair, still kept longer than had once been his signature look, stuck out in several directions. All he wore was a plain t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, and his glasses rested on his nose. Annabeth wondered if he had so much as stopped to wash his face or brush his teeth before rushing out his front door to the rescue.

They watched as an officer led Reyna and the other woman through a door that had been closed to Annabeth no matter how many people she’d tried talking to. Jason heaved a heavy sigh and turned back to Annabeth. “No, I’m glad you called. We got here as soon as we could.”

“Who’s the lawyer?” Annabeth asked, wondering about the well dressed woman she’d seen. That woman had been a few inches taller than Reyna, in a fierce pantsuit with her black hair pulled back into a pristine bun. While not completely sure, Annabeth thought the woman and Reyna were quite possibly related. She remembered Jason saying Reyna’s mother was part of the Grace legal team, but this woman appeared far too young to have a daughter in her late twenties.

Glancing back at the door through which the other two had disappeared, Jason replied, “Hylla. She’s Reyna’s sister, someone we can trust.”

There was a heaviness in Jason’s voice as he spoke the words, _someone we can trust_ , that ignited an entirely different kind of worry in the pit of Annabeth’s stomach. Considering he didn’t even know about the blackmail Piper had been threatened with, she wondered exactly how many people Jason already felt like he couldn’t trust, if he knew the depth of his own father’s _un_ trustworthiness. Again she was overcome with frustration at Piper for not having been honest with him about that from the start. Jason needed to know who around him had his best interests at heart. 

“What did you say were you two doing?” Jason asked, after a quick scan of Annabeth’s attire. 

Together they returned to the plastic bucket seat bench Annabeth had been sitting in while waiting. With Jason there beside her, the situation as under control as it could possibly be, Annabeth felt a lot less anxious, even if she was still cold, hungry and generally miserable. “We were out for a jog and had stopped for breakfast.”

“And Piper got arrested,” Jason supplied, making Annabeth glare at him for his light and teasing tone. This was definitely not something she was ready to joke about. “Sorry. I know you’ve had a rough morning.”

A rough month was more like it, but Annabeth nodded and kept that thought to herself, knowing full well Jason’s had been worse than her own. “Thank you for getting here so quickly. I felt like I was about to lose my mind.”

“Don’t mention it,” he said softly. Jason’s eyes were locked on the door Reyna and Hylla had disappeared through. To Annabeth’s surprise, the corners of his lips quirked up in the hint of a smile. “I should probably leave before she comes out, though.”

“Are you enjoying this?” Annabeth asked, some of her own frustration melting unwittingly in response to his apparent amusement, even if she didn’t know what to make of it.

Looking a little contrite, Jason’s gaze switched to Annabeth again. “It’s just so… _Piper._ ”

Jason said Piper’s name with such reverence, and again Annabeth was reminded of how much Jason had always appreciated everything Piper was. She remembered, too, how he had almost rushed all the way across the country when he’d heard Naomi had been hospitalized, not even knowing if his presence would be welcomed. He still wanted to be there for Piper, and Annabeth had the distinct impression he expected nothing in return – not for Piper to take him back or change her mind, probably not even a word of thanks.

“I shouldn’t have called you,” she replied with a sigh and a sudden flare of guilt for having dragged him into all this. 

Being there wasn’t doing him any favors in the battle to move on. In the weeks since she’d first seen Jason after the break up, his complexion had improved, the bags under his eyes disappeared, and he’d continued to be open and responsive every time Percy reached out. If somehow this set him back, undid the progress he’d made in getting over his heartbreak, Annabeth would hate herself.

“Annabeth,” he said, his tone alone an effective reprimand. “I’m glad you called me, really glad you did, actually.”

Though she could tell how much he meant those words, maybe even because of that, it still didn’t sit quite right with Annabeth. “It’s not your job to get Piper out of the messes she makes.”

“And if I want to anyway?” Jason demanded, not shying away, his chest puffing out infinitesimally as if in challenge. Maybe he hadn’t made as much progress as Annabeth had suspected.

This time it was Annabeth who did the reprimanding, though with a much more gentle lilt to her voice. “Jason.”

“What are you doing tomorrow?” he said, instead of addressing her admonishment.

She blinked at him a couple times in surprise. “Sundays are Percy’s day off, but we don’t really have any plans yet.”

“Would you be willing to come over for a bit in the evening?” he asked, gaze falling back on the door between them and Piper. “A couple hours tops.”

“What am I coming over for?” she replied, cautious and curious.

Completely straight faced, eyes still locked ahead of him, Jason answered, “War council.”

Annabeth thought it was a joke. It had to be a joke. So, she laughed, but Jason looked at her, not even cracking a smile. “Wait, you’re serious?”

“That’s what Frank’s calling it,” Jason offered with a shrug.

“Frank is going to be there?” she asked, only growing more intrigued by the second.

Sadness darkened Jason’s features, his eyes narrowing, frown deepening. It differed greatly from the sadness Annabeth remembered seeing him weighed down by the week after Piper had broken up with him – something old and deep, tinged with a hint hopelessness. “I know Frank seems gentle, but he’s lost as much as any of us over the years, maybe more. He deserves a seat at the table.”

Any doubts Annabeth had about what Jason kept hinting at faded with those words. Only one person could have been responsible for Frank’s losses, the same person who had been responsible for Jason’s, for Piper’s. Jason was convening a council to go to war with his own father. It made sense. Jove had taken the first shot.

“And why do I deserve a seat at this table?” Annabeth asked, a new kind of nervous energy beginning to course through her veins.

“Partially because Piper can’t have one,” Jason replied easily, his sadness only growing. “If anyone can represent her best interests, it’s you.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly, trying to further discern his meaning. “The other reason is Luke, isn’t it?”

The ghost of a smile pulled at Jason’s lips and he finally looked back at her. “That, and you’re just smart as hell.”

“You’re swearing a lot today, Jason Grace,” she said, the anticipation blending dangerously with fear over Luke’s involvement and the theory she’d been nursing since Thursday afternoon. “Someone might start to think you’re not as straight laced as you seem.”

“Good,” he replied, his smile broadening. “Does this mean I can count on you?”

Annabeth hesitated to answer, wondering where Jason’s suggestion fell in regards to her agreement with Percy, what kind of gray area she would be stepping into when it came to safeguarding Piper’s secret. This was Jason coming to her first, though, and if it involved Luke, it would have involved her regardless of everything else. She wanted answers and she wanted to help. Neither of those things would be possible if she just sat around waiting.

“You have to do me a favor in return,” she decided, keeping the playful tone she’d adopted to cover her anxiety. When Jason raised his eyebrows and looked back at her, Annabeth smiled, and she knew even without having to talk to Dr. Brunner exactly what she needed to do.

If they were going to war, if she was right about what connected Jason to Luke, Annabeth intended to take no prisoners.


	96. Chapter 96

“Piper McLean?” an officer asked at Piper’s holding cell door.

It was an obvious enough answer, since Piper was the only one being held at the moment. “Yep.”

The officer’s keys rattled as he pulled them out of a pocket and unlocked her cell, opening the heavy door with the grating sound of metal scraping against metal. “You’re free to go.”

“What?” Piper blurted out, incredulous and not getting up from her seat.

“The gentleman has decided against pressing charges and the DA has agreed with that decision,” he informed her, sounding as if this turn of events offended him personally. “We have your information if he changes his mind, but for now there’s no reason for us to hold you.”

Mind barely able to wrap itself around what was happening, Piper got to her feet and followed the officer out, through the spattering of desks in the precinct office, to a window where she was returned her confiscated personal items and sign a few papers, and finally to the bustling main lobby. Just like that they were letting her walk out, and she half suspected they were setting some kind of trap for her.

Immediately Piper’s eyes found Annabeth, a lump forming in her chest at the relief the sight of her best friend provided, then she noticed who Annabeth was standing with – Reyna. It was such a strange and unsettling sight that Piper had to blink a few times to be sure her eyes weren’t playing some kind of trick on her. They were chatting, both appearing relatively at ease, and then Reyna laughed at something Annabeth had said and Piper began to wonder if this were actually some bizarre dream. She’d simply fallen asleep back in the holding cell and any second now she’d jolt awake only to realize she was still trapped.

No jolting awake happened, though, and a few seconds later Annabeth spotted Piper and practically deflated right where she stood. Reyna turned toward Piper in that same moment and a broad grin spread across her face. Not wasting any more time, Piper slipped through the crowded lobby toward the other two women and was immediately swept up in Annabeth’s arms.

“What are you doing here?” Piper asked Reyna over Annabeth’s shoulder.

Admittedly, seeing Reyna terrified Piper. She expected Reyna to hate her, to be furious over her breaking Jason’s heart and countless promises in the process. Several of those promises had been made to Reyna directly. There was no malice in those dark brown eyes, though. If anything, Reyna looked amused, affectionate. None of the warmth that had come to define their relationship in those last couple months had faded.

“I didn’t know who else to call,” Annabeth replied instead of Reyna, still holding Piper tight.

“So you called _Reyna_?” Piper pressed, even more confused by that than Reyna’s presence itself. “No offense, Rey.”

Reyna thankfully laughed. “None taken.”

Finally pulling back, Annabeth looked at Piper hesitantly. “I didn’t call Reyna. I called Jason.”

That should have been obvious, but Piper’s mind had refused to even consider it as a possibility. Her pride smarted as she realized he was the reason she’d been let off so easily. Even with Jason helping to get a qualified lawyer, Piper doubted Dylan would have wanted or needed monetary compensation in exchange for deciding not to press charges, which meant Jason had probably used his family name to apply pressure. Taking advantage of the Grace family name was the last thing Piper ever wanted to do, especially now. Jason being called, him having to be the one who rescued her even after she’d broken his heart, felt like a betrayal. Standing there, Piper wasn’t sure if she felt like that betrayal had been Annabeth’s or her own for getting into the mess to begin with.

“This is my sister’s card,” Reyna said, handing a small business card to Piper. _Hylla Ramírez-Arellano, Attorney at Law_ was embossed in gold on black card stock. “If that guy gives you any more problems, just give her a call and she’ll handle it. You should be fine, though.”

“Does she work f–” Piper started, but Reyna quickly interrupted with, “No. Her firm has no relation to the Grace family. She came as a favor to me. And because I told her what happened and she thought you were badass.”

At least knowing that gave Piper a small comfort, so she tried to smile with gratitude, holding the card up. “Thank you. I’ll make sure to keep this in my wallet from now on.”

“I saw him,” Reyna added, her smile growing a little wider. “You did some pretty impressive damage with that punch. Dakota is going to be proud. He’s also going to be upset I couldn’t get a picture to show him.”

“Think I bruised a couple knuckles, though,” Piper replied holding up her right hand and flexing her fingers. The joints were already sore, the redness around them beginning to deepen into a light shade of purple. There were probably going to be questions about that at work on Monday, but she was still impressed she’d managed to inflict so much damage on Dylan without incurring any significant amount on herself.

Reyna laughed, taking Piper’s hand and examining the minimal bruising, a surprisingly tender gesture that took Piper aback. “You didn’t break anything, which is more than can be said about his nose. This just means you need to start coming back to the gym.”

“What?” Piper asked, once again beginning to wonder if this was actually some kind of weird dream, or maybe a full blown hallucination.

“Dakota’s been bugging me about you for weeks,” Reyna replied, releasing Piper’s hand and crossing her arms, her tone firm. “He’s left your usual hour on Sunday open. Drop by tomorrow.”

Since breaking up with Jason, Piper had thought about the gym often. She had more reason than ever to want to hit something, which was probably why she’d so readily snapped and taken all that frustration out on Dylan – not that she didn’t think he deserved it. Going back seemed wrong, though. Dakota was Jason’s actual, blood related family, and the place was Reyna’s stomping ground to top it off. Piper had considered trying to find another gym or club, but hadn’t been able to motivate herself to do any research. It had never crossed her mind she might still be welcome, not just by Dakota, but by Reyna.

When Piper looked to Annabeth, confused, Annabeth simply shrugged. Piper decided to just nod. “I should have time to swing by tomorrow.”

“So, I’m starving and this place is as close to literal hell as it gets. Can we leave?” Annabeth interjected, and Piper could tell from the hint of annoyance in Annabeth’s voice that this was only just barely an exaggeration. When Annabeth got especially hungry, her temperament became unpredictable. Since Piper herself had already spent the better portion of the morning in a holding cell, she figured it was a bad idea to let Annabeth risk developing a short fuse. An angry Annabeth would likely do a lot more than just break a creep’s nose.

“I’ve got a few errands to run, so I’ll say my farewell here,” Reyna replied, flashing them both a grin. “It was nice talking to you, Annabeth, and I’ll see you around, Piper.”

With a few more parting words, Piper watched Reyna disappear out the precinct doors with her mouth agape. “Am I the only one who thinks it was weird she was so happy to see me?”

“You’re likable,” Annabeth said with another shrug.

Not that likable, Piper thought, her mind reeling as she tried to make sense of what had just transpired, something she was beginning to feel like she’d been doing the entire morning. 

Without waiting for Piper to catch up, Annabeth started toward the door and out onto the sidewalk. After so many hours in the cold indoors, the heat of midday hit Piper like a concrete wall and left her almost instantly exhausted. Apparently she wasn’t the only one feeling so drained, because instead of walking back to their apartment, something they probably would have otherwise done at the relatively short distance on a nice day, Annabeth began hailing down a cab.

Neither of them said anything as they settled into the backseat of a car and Annabeth gave the driver their address. Piper figured Annabeth had a lot she wanted to say, but was waiting until they at least made it home for privacy. The short time to think was something Piper was thankful for.

Piper still couldn’t believe Annabeth had called Jason, but thinking even just for a minute she realized she felt no anger over it, not at Annabeth. The anger she felt was directed inward, exacerbated by shame and guilt – shame for having gotten herself into such a helpless situation and guilt for that meaning he needed to come to her rescue even after what she’d done. Her heart ached, too, at the thought he’d probably come the second Annabeth had called. She tried to talk herself into believing that willingness to help would have been for the sake of his friend, for Annabeth, but failed. Everything Jason had done that morning had been for Piper, at the root of it.

Or Piper was a massive narcissist and it had nothing to do with her at all. Maybe Jason hadn’t even known Piper was involved until after he’d arrived at the station. Maybe he was upset with Annabeth now, for making him help Piper at all. Maybe he’d already moved on and was simply indifferent, considered what he’d done to help as a favor for the friend of a friend. That might also explain why Reyna had been so friendly and relaxed. No reason to be mad at Piper if Jason had bounced back easily.

“Percy wants to know if they took a mugshot,” Annabeth said, derailing Piper’s train of thought.

Blinking a few times, Piper shook her head. “No, they didn’t get around to booking me before Hylla did whatever she did to get me out.”

“He’s going to be disappointed,” Annabeth replied, the corners of her lips quirked into a smile as she tapped away at her phone sending a text. “What are you in the mood to eat?”

“Are you not mad?” Piper couldn’t help asking, yet again beginning to suspect this was a figment of her imagination. It was absolutely insane that Annabeth hadn’t completely chewed Piper out the second she’d stepped into that lobby, even with so many people around to gawk.

Annabeth set her phone in her lap and stared at the cab driver’s seat in front of her. “I’m not mad, not exactly,” she answered after a few seconds of thought, “but I don’t want to get into it in the back of a taxi, and I’m honestly a lot more hungry than I am upset right now.”

“I don’t deserve you,” Piper told her, voice barely above a whisper.

Clear anger flashed across Annabeth’s face for a few fleeting seconds and when she turned to look at Piper her eyes were a raging storm. “Are you _trying_ to make me mad at you?”

“ _Someone_ should be mad at me,” Piper replied, and though she kept her voice down it was laced with all the frustration, hurt and confusion she’d felt the last few hours. “You’re not mad at me. Reyna isn’t mad at me. Will and Percy aren’t mad at me for my nightmares throwing their lives into chaos. And, if the response today is any indication, apparently even _Jason_ isn’t mad at me.”

Before Annabeth could reply – and Piper got the feeling she had several choice words to say based on her expression – the taxi pulled up to their apartment building. Piper settled the tab while Annabeth threw the door open and stormed up the front steps into their apartment lobby. By the time Piper caught up, Annabeth was nowhere to be seen. From the stomping Piper could hear further up the staircase, she assumed that meant Annabeth had decided to take whatever she was feeling out on the stairs. Good for Annabeth, but Piper was too drained to even think about climbing three flights of stairs. She waited for the elevator.

When Piper made it to the apartment, Annabeth was just sitting down at the kitchen table with a sandwich, her first bite so big and aggressive she practically stuffed half of it in her mouth at once. Piper decided not to pay any attention, going straight for the fridge to find something to eat, since apparently they were no longer deciding on what to have for lunch together. There was unfortunately a lot less for Piper to eat with minimal effort, so she settled for grabbing a tub of hummus and some baby carrots.

They sat at the table together, glaring while they ate. Piper snapped every baby carrot as loud as humanly possible. Annabeth continued to take ridiculously large bites until her sandwich was finished, chewing with such hostility it might have been comical under any other circumstances. At that point she reached across the table and started stealing Piper’s carrots, echoing each unnaturally loud snap.

Silence dragged on between them, punctured only by the crisp break of each carrot and the sounds of chewing, until they were both finished eating and just sitting there in contentious silence. Leaned back in her chair, arms crossed over her chest, Annabeth stared daggers in Piper’s direction. It had been a long time since Piper had seen that look in her best friend’s eyes, years. Unintentionally, Piper had pushed one too many of Annabeth’s buttons.

No, not unintentionally. Piper had already admitted she wanted Annabeth to be mad at her, just for the sake of someone holding her accountable for all the havoc she’d wreaked the last month. Annabeth being the one mad at her was safe, easy, because Annabeth’s anger wouldn’t last long. Forgiveness would be easily earned when Piper once again felt worthy of it. That was a dangerous and selfish game to play, and Annabeth didn’t deserve to be used like some sort of self induced punishment machine.

Piper just didn’t _understand_. 

All she had done for almost a full month was cause problems and hurt people, but not a single person had held anything against her. They let her off too easily. It felt like her whole life had been that way, full of people forgiving and forgetting when there should have been much greater consequences for her actions – people mostly being Annabeth, if only because Annabeth had been the only one who was ever close enough long enough for Piper to hurt regularly. Now it wasn’t just Annabeth, though. Jason, Percy, Reyna, Will, her dad – all of them had been let down or put out by Piper in one way or another, and yet not a single one of them seemed to be upset with her for her very obvious failings.

Not even the law itself, it would seem, could hold Piper McLean accountable for the destruction she wrought. Only Piper herself could manage proper punishment and she _wanted_ to punish herself. She wanted to punish herself for all the ways she’d made the people around her suffer, yes, but she also wanted to be punished for the pain she’d brought down on herself.

“Why did you punch him, Piper?” Annabeth finally asked, still slouched back and staring daggers. “I’ve never seen you snap at a loser like Dylan, and I’ve seen you deal with a lot of losers like him.”

Piper swallowed hard, her mouth suddenly dry, but she knew she couldn’t run away from the conversation. “He called me a whore.”

“And?” Annabeth pressed. The fact that Piper had been called that and worse over the years without reacting so violently went unspoken. 

“And that’s what Jason’s dad called me,” Piper spat, an unfair degree of anger in her voice. That anger wasn’t aimed at Annabeth, but Annabeth still received it. “He called me a leech and a whore.”

Annabeth considered Piper for a few seconds, at least not seeming to have been made any more upset by Piper’s tone. “You need to tell Jason.”

“I can’t,” Piper replied without hesitation, even as her entire body ached to do that very thing. From the soreness in her knuckles to the perpetual emptiness of her heart, Piper’s entire being screamed at her to _go_. No more excuses, no more putting it off. Forget work and show up on his proverbial doorstep to beg for the forgiveness she did not deserve.

“He just saved your ass, Piper. He’s more than earned the truth,” Annabeth insisted. “I feel like a broken record here, but I know you. This isn’t even about the two of you possibly being able to work it out and be together. Until you’re honest with him, you’re just going to keep hating yourself. I don’t want to watch you spiral into some kind of endless, self-destructive cycle.”

Everything Annabeth said was right. Piper knew it and that was the problem. She was too angry – at herself, at Dylan, at fucking Jove Grace, at the whole world – to also accept that Annabeth just always had to be _right_. 

“I need to take a shower so I can go in to work,” Piper said, instead of addressing any of the very valid points Annabeth had made. Without another word spoken between them, Piper returned her hummus and carrots to the fridge and went on her way.


	97. Chapter 97

Annabeth didn’t know what to expect from a war council, but chocolate cake was definitely not it.

The assembled group was relatively small – Annabeth, Jason, Frank, Thalia and Reyna, all arrayed in the living room of the Grace apartment. Thalia and Reyna were tucked into an armchair together, sharing a massive slice of cake on a single plate between them. Jason sat in the armchair opposite them, one foot on his knee, forgoing the cake. Frank had taken a seat on the couch with Annabeth, carefully eating around the frosting and filling of his cake, though Annabeth didn’t know if he was avoiding them or saving them for last. She had taken a slice for herself, and it tasted alright, but her appetite failed her.

“Are you going to start this thing or not, Jace,” Thalia finally asked, eyes locked on her brother as she fed a forkful of cake to Reyna.

“I was going to give everyone a chance to finish their cake,” he replied, staring at her pointedly. Thalia had been the one to bring the cake. “You know, so we’re not distracted.”

Thalia grinned at him, a taunting thing that made Annabeth want to laugh. “The cake’s purpose is to take the edge off listening you to drone on. You’re supposed to talk _while_ we eat.”

“Don’t be mean to him, Thals,” Reyna chided without any real intensity, seeming to be biting back a laugh of her own. “We’re supporting his newfound desire to murder your father, remember?”

“No one’s getting murdered,” Jason objected, the sigh he heaved as affectionate as it was exasperated.

“Maybe we should start off by going around the circle and sharing how _Daddy Dearest_ has screwed each of us over,” Thalia offered, shoving a large bite of cake in her own mouth. She didn’t bother swallowing before she continued. “I’ll start. He covered up our drunk of a mother smacking us around for over a decade, because, you know, it would look bad if people knew we’d been abused.”

What little appetite Annabeth had enjoyed disappeared and she set her plate aside. Beryl Grace’s battle with alcohol was public knowledge, her successful comeback to daytime TV celebrated by fans and critics alike. A few times Jason had implied his mother had been violent during those years he’d been especially young and she’d been drunk more often than not, but hearing it said so plainly, and with the addition of Jove’s knowledge and enabling, made her heart ache for him and Thalia both. Jove protected Beryl and now the world celebrated her, all while her children endured the lasting consequences of her actions alone.

“I’d say I’ve suffered the least out of this group,” Reyna said without any prompting, before even a few seconds of silence could pass. “All he did was block me from a job I wanted. Couldn’t have me being independent from the family, after all, not if I also wanted to be with Thalia.”

“How can he make sure you’re loyal if he doesn’t control your livelihood?” Thalia asked in a mocking tone, holding up a bite of cake for Reyna.

Reyna smiled at Thalia as she chewed, licking her lips before speaking again. “Clearly that didn’t work, because here I am, ready to plot his murder.”

“Jason said no murdering,” Thalia reminded her.

“Jason is only one fifth of this war council,” Reyna replied, closing the few inches that separated them so she could brush her lips against Thalia’s forehead. 

All those years Thalia and Jason had been left alone with their mother, Reyna had been with them, witnessing the fallout, if not the violence itself. She didn’t make their trauma about herself, but Annabeth had no doubt Reyna cared more about the abuse Jove had permitted than the relative inconvenience he had caused her. Annabeth didn’t blame either of them for wanting the man dead, and probably wouldn’t have walked away even if that had been the whole purpose of their little war council.

When four sets of eyes turned their attention to Annabeth, she took a deep breath. “He ruined my best friend’s happiness,” she told them, a very simplified version of the whole truth she’d recently learned, but the truth nonetheless. Annabeth didn’t want to lie to the four of them, and felt guilty for holding back Piper’s secret, but she hadn’t yet decided how much she should or would be willing to tell them. Those were bridges she’d cross as she got to them.

“He tried to use me as leverage to get to my mom’s inheritance,” Frank said a few seconds later, not looking up from his plate, a steely anger in his voice. “I lost that inheritance, but I don’t care about it. The worst part was that I never got to see my grandma again after Mom died.”

Jason had told Annabeth the day before that Frank had lot as much as any of them. She hadn’t doubted that, but it didn’t make the reality any easier to hear. Saying it aloud didn’t seem very easy for Frank, either, who pushed frosting and filling around on his plate with his fork rather than looking at anyone else in the room. Annabeth definitely wouldn’t have walked away if murder were on the table that night. In fact, she had half a mind to bring it back up herself.

Everyone turned their attention to Jason next. Annabeth wished she were close enough to offer him a hand in support, the way he’d taken hers the day she’d met her mother. He contemplated his words for several seconds, staring at a patch of floor a few feet away from where he sat. Like Thalia, Jason had been left exposed to his mother’s violence. The happiness Jove had taken from Piper had been Jason’s as well. Those were answers he could give just as easily, but Annabeth knew Jason’s struggle had been unique among everyone gathered that evening, a blend of each evil.

“He made me think I didn’t deserve to want anything from life,” Jason finally answered, lifting his eyes to all four other faces in turn, “and then the moment I dared to believe otherwise, he took what I wanted from me anyway.”

Silence fell over the group again, heavier than the awkwardness when they’d simply been eating cake. It was hard even for Annabeth to imagine Jove hurting each of them so much, so selfishly, in so many ways, even when her own father made it a habit of finding new ways to ruin her days. That he could do these things to his own family should have scared her off. If Jove hurt his own children and grandchildren so readily, he wouldn’t hesitate to destroy her, or Percy, or anyone else they loved. Instead that knowledge just made Annabeth more confident she was in the right place. He’d already set his sights on all of them. She would not be caught with her head stuck in the sand when Jove’s attack finally came.

“So,” Thalia finally said, again the one to take the initiative of saying what no one else dared, “how do we orchestrate the demise of the great Jove Grace?”

“We start with Harry,” Jason replied, sitting deadly still in his armchair.

Harry, Annabeth remembered, was Jason and Thalia’s elder brother, Herald Grace. He’d been the one lined up to inherit before getting caught pulling some real shady shit earlier that year. As far as Annabeth knew, Harry currently called Rikers Island home, awaiting trial without bail for the plethora of financial crimes he’d been accused of – including, but not limited to, bribery, embezzlement, securities fraud, and tax evasion.

Other things about Harry had come to light in the last few months as well. Most of it had been tabloid gossip, the kind of thing Annabeth didn’t pay attention to. Those rumors and the damage they’d done to the Grace family name were a large part of the reason Jove had chosen Jason as the new heir. Jason’s pristine image cut a stark contrast to the negativity Harry had rained down on them.

“Harry isn’t going to help us,” Thalia said, shaking her head. “Dad is paying all his legal fees and I’m sure he’s hoping there will still be a piece of the pie waiting for him once he gets out of prison. He’s been in Dad’s pocket his whole life. That’s how he got away with so much for so long.”

“There’s one thing I don’t get, though,” Annabeth said, ignoring the jitters having all eyes on her inspired. “Why was Harry embezzling when he had already had all your family’s money at his disposal? You say he was in your Dad’s pocket. I assume that means he could have had anything he wanted or needed. I know greed is illogical, but that’s just biting the hand that feeds him. It’s stupid.”

Thalia snorted a laugh. “Yeah, well, Harry has always been an idiot.”

“Except,” Jason replied, a small smile playing at his lips as he looked at Annabeth, “he wasn’t just being an idiot.”

“He needed the money for something he didn’t want your dad to know about, or something your dad wouldn’t have approved of,” Annabeth concluded, a smile to match Jason’s pulling at her own lips. Clearly Jason had already come to these conclusions, but it still felt good to reach them on her own, to see the excitement in his eyes at their mutual understanding. “But _what_ did he need it for?”

“For his mistresses, to start,” Jason answered, his smile wavering just enough to send a chill down Annabeth’s spine, wiping the smile off her face instantly. “But also for his kids.”

In San Francisco Luke had warned Annabeth about associating with the Graces. She’d assumed at the time that meant he knew one or more of them, had encountered them either in academic or professional circles over the years. Over the last few weeks she’d begun entertaining an entirely different theory, a theory that was both too absurd to be possible and simultaneously terrifyingly likely. The look in Jason’s eye told Annabeth her theory had been right on the nose.

Tabloid gossip tended to be exaggerated, without reputable sources to back up the rumors peddled, but too many of the stories about Harry had to do with infidelity and affairs for it to be a coincidence. At least a dozen headlines over the last few months had focused on accusations of Harry having secret families all over the country, mistresses and children. While Annabeth didn’t know for sure how many of those claims were true, there was never smoke without a fire, and for her theory to be true, Harry only needed one mistress with one illegitimate child.

Luke didn’t know the Graces, he was one.

Glancing between Jason and Annabeth in confusion, Frank asked, “Why would he need money for Travis and Connor?”

“Not Travis and Connor,” Jason told Frank, finally breaking eye contact with Annabeth. “Dad’s been doing his damnedest to keep it secret these last few months, but what everyone’s been saying about him is true. Harry has more kids. A lot of them.”

Morbid curiosity got the better of Annabeth and she couldn’t stop herself from asking, “Exactly how many?”

“Harry’s been paying child support secretly, against our father’s wishes from what I’ve been able to tell, for at least three,” Jason said, focusing back on Annabeth, “but there are five more who are already adults, a few of them older than Thalia and me. A couple of them have been the real source of his problems, basically blackmailing him for money – not that I blame them.”

“That’s why Luke’s here in the city,” Annabeth said with a disbelieving laugh. “To see Harry. His father. Because he’s been cut off.”

“Wait,” Thalia interrupted, “how do you know Luke?”

“Who’s Luke?” Frank asked, apparently the only one who hadn’t known Harry’s philandering was more than just bottom of the barrel gossip.

Jason flashed apologetic looks to everyone else before focusing back on Annabeth. “I didn’t tell them because I figured I should leave that decision to you.”

Annabeth did appreciate the gesture, that Jason had left her in control of what and how much she shared. Her connection to Luke could easily be explained away through his relationship with her father without having to go into the ugly personal details. Not telling them everything she knew about Piper and that file already felt like holding too much back, though. She wanted to be as honest with them as they’d been with her about Jove.

“Luke was one of my father’s students,” she started, swallowing hard and focusing most of her attention on Jason, because he knew this story already and because she was closest with him. “When I was seventeen, away at school, he started writing me letters. That summer, when I turned eighteen, we had… well, it wasn’t really a relationship, but I thought it was. Affair might be the more accurate word, considering he was engaged the whole time.”

“Isn’t he like thirty?” Thalia asked, her head recoiling.

With a sigh, Annabeth simply nodded.

“So,” Reyna said before another tense silence could settle over the group, “we murder this Luke guy instead, and pin it on Jove. Two birds, one stone.”

“I could get behind that idea,” Frank offered, a gentle reply, but when Annabeth looked over at him, his eyes were shining with a quiet, righteous rage that made her understand why Jason had been confident he deserved a seat at this table. Annabeth knew Frank as kind, soft spoken and thoughtful, but all joking aside, she got the distinct impression he would be just as willing to genuinely conspire murder that evening as Thalia and Reyna.

Settling into this new degree of openness, Annabeth felt liberated. For years she had run from the reality of what Luke had done to her, hidden the truth in shame. She was a relatively private person and didn’t want to go running around shouting the story from rooftops or anything. Sharing stripped the secret of its power over her, though, and every time she found the courage to speak those words aloud Annabeth reclaimed a little autonomy. No more hiding, no more shame, just the freedom and comfort honesty provided.

“How does all of this help us?” Annabeth asked, looking back at Jason.

“Tabloids have already been going crazy talking about Harry’s supposed affairs,” Jason started, his eyes switching between all four others in the room as he spoke. “Dad’s influence is powerful, but it only goes so far, and the publications we don’t own are ready and waiting to pounce at the first opportunity.”

“We leak the details about Harry’s kids and affairs to a competitor,” Thalia replied, wearing a small, proud grin. “That’s a start, but Harry’s already out of the picture. Exposing him might further damage to the family image, and that’s a big might, but it’s a far cry from taking Dad down.”

Reyna nodded, brow furrowed as she weighed the idea, their options. “If anything, Jove would just spin it to make you look better.”

“That’s the point, though,” Annabeth said, pointing to Reyna as she considered Jason, heart rate beginning to rise with excitement as the idea came to her. Jason had hinted to as much the day before when Annabeth teased him about swearing. “Your dad is counting on your clean cut image. Nothing that comes out about Harry could hurt him because you’re the anti-Harry. If you start to cause problems, get into trouble, bring negative attention to yourself, his whole plan crumbles.”

“Jason already has a few paparazzi tails,” Thalia offered, her interest in the plan growing with every passing second. “Putting on a show for them would be easy enough.”

Annabeth nodded enthusiastically, just as excited about where this was going. “And Jason is attractive enough that it won’t take long for him to gain a following online, especially with the notoriety he already has from his name and the publicity your Dad has been orchestrating.”

“ _Attractive enough_ ,” Jason repeated, amusement in his voice. “Thanks, Annabeth.”

“If you do all that, wouldn’t he just end up choosing someone else?” Frank asked, the nervous lilt to his voice making Annabeth think he worried _he_ might be the next choice.

Frank’s point was a good one, dulling Annabeth’s growing excitement. There was a distinct possibility Frank could be sitting in Jason’s seat before long if they weren’t careful. Jove tossing Jason aside would be good for _Jason_ , but it wouldn’t necessarily solve any of their other problems. It probably wouldn’t even be enough to make Jove back off Piper. For all they knew, it could just end up causing more problems than it solved.

“Thals,” Reyna said, turning in their shared chair to rest her arm on Thalia’s shoulder and begin fiddling with short, choppy strands of jet black hair, “do you still want it?”

“Want what?” Thalia asked, face scrunching in confusion.

“All of it,” Reyna replied, deceptively casual about the subject as she continued toying with Thalia’s hair. “You always talked about it when we were younger, about taking everything for yourself. _Teaching them a lesson_ , you’d call it. You tried to convince your dad to give it to you instead of Jason, too, although I know at that point it was more about protecting Jason than wanting the inheritance itself.”

“He would never choose me,” Thalia said, shaking her head but not looking away. “He made it very clear I was never even an option back in March.”

Reyna smiled, narrowing her eyes playfully. “I’m not asking if he’d choose you. We all know he never would. I’m asking if you _want it_.”

The question hung in the air as Thalia studied Reyna. Her eyes finally broke away, falling instead on Jason. He stared back at his sister, his expression guarded and unreadable, waiting for her to give an answer. Inheriting the Grace empire had been the source of nothing but suffering for Jason the last few months and he’d made no effort to hide how much he hated the burden put on his shoulder. Annabeth wondered if he’d ever considered it might be something Thalia actually _wanted_ , that this thing keeping him from his desires had been her desire all along.

“Yeah,” Thalia finally answered, turning back to Reyna. “What does it matter?”

“We throw Harry under the bus to prove exactly how little Grace men can be trusted,” Reyna said, her smile blossoming into a wide and dangerous grin. “We further undermine faith in Jove’s judgment by making Jason look like an incompetent, unreliable, hellion, no better than Harry. And, then, once all that’s done, we turn the board against Jove entirely, take the whole company right out from under his nose.”

Again, Frank spoke up to ask a good question. “How many shares do we have in this room?”

“Not enough,” Thalia replied without hesitation, though she directed the answer at Reyna instead of Frank, as if to drive home the point the plan would never work.

Jason didn’t seem convinced, though. “Apollo and Diana might be with us if we asked, at least with a little convincing.”

“Still not enough.”

“I’m sure we’d have Dakota on our side,” Reyna suggested. “And he might even be able to sway his dad.”

“ _Still_ not enough.”

“Mom has shares, the handful she got in the divorce,” Jason said, grimacing at even the thought.

Thalia shook her head. “Fuck her. I wouldn’t ask for her help if I had a gun to my head.”

“I’m not going to pretend I know all the intricacies of how these things work,” Annabeth interjected, holding up her hands in a physical gesture of surrendering to that ignorance, “but isn’t that the point Reyna was making? We don’t have the numbers now, but we don’t need them now. We’ll find them. We’ll _earn_ them, by making everyone see that you’re the better option here.”

“ _We,_ ” Jason said, snapping Annabeth to attention.

Annabeth’s cheeks flared with heat. She hadn’t meant to get quite so wrapped up in the moment as to bring herself into the literal family, but she didn’t shy away from the confrontation. “You’re the one who asked me to be on this stupid war council, so, yes, _we_.”

“And I’m glad I did,” he replied with a laugh, “because you’re right. This isn’t going to happen overnight. We have time, and the pieces will start falling into place once we set the initial parts of our plan into action.”

“Unless Dad figures out what we’re plotting and the whole thing blows up in our face,” Thalia argued, but Annabeth could see a hint of yearning in her eyes. They were talking about Thalia getting what she’d secretly dreamed of for years, what she’d probably long accepted would always be out of her reach, and she could not hide her excitement at the prospect.

The whole thing blowing up in their faces was another distinct possibility. Annabeth wasn’t sure whether she had more to lose than the rest of them, or less, but either way she had plenty. She also had a whole lot to gain. They all had a whole lot to gain.

“What’s the worst he could do?” Reyna asked, scanning all four other faces. “Disown you? Cut you off? Throw you out?”

 _Air the dirty laundry of everyone we know and love_ , Annabeth thought. For a second she considered telling them what she knew, breaking Piper’s confidence to give them full context on what Jove Grace was capable of. The four of them understood Jove better than Annabeth likely ever would, though. She didn’t need to tell them. They didn’t need her telling them what was on the line.

“I’m in,” Frank said, all eyes turning to look at him. “It’s a good idea and worth the risk.”

“Being disowned would be an improvement for me,” Jason offered, a statement he tried and failed to make sound like a joke. “I’m in, too.”

Even with Piper bending to Jove’s will, Annabeth didn’t trust him with everything he knew. There would be no predicting when he might decide to use a piece of that information to remind Piper he was in control, or even just to rub salt in her wounds. If Annabeth was going to gamble with their fates, she’d rather gamble on her friends. Piper had been too scared to bet on Jason, and Annabeth could understand those fears, where they’d come from and why Piper didn’t have the strength to overcome them. Annabeth had been invited to that meeting in part to represent Piper’s interests. In that spirit, confident they had more to gain than they had to lose, Annabeth would lend her courage where Piper’s had failed.

Annabeth was all in, but not on Thalia, not even on the plan itself. She was all in on Jason.

“Let’s do it,” she chimed in, giving Jason a single, confident nod.

“It was my idea, so obviously I like it,” Reyna said, draping her arms over Thalia’s shoulders and looking at her girlfriend expectantly. “What do you say, babe?”

“Fuck it,” Thalia replied with a sigh. “It’ll be worth it just to see Jason try to convincingly rebel.”

“About _that_ ,” Jason replied, taking a deep breath and glancing around the room, paling ever so slightly.

They ended up ordering dinner, because cake could not sustain the brainstorming session required to even draft a feasible plan for turning Jason from golden boy to scoundrel. Jason had several rules for what he’d be willing to try – no major crimes, no endangering other people, no sabotaging the magazine he’d been assigned to oversee, and no womanizing, even for show. Annabeth didn’t say it aloud, but she suspected that last caveat had more to do with consideration for Piper than anything else. His demands did limit them some, but that just meant they had to get creative. By the end of the night they had a working list of potential scandalous behaviors and Thalia had started doodling tattoo ideas on Jason’s arm with a felt tipped marker.

Since it was late when Annabeth finally called it a night, Jason insisted on seeing her out and making sure she got safely into a car. Thalia did have a point about it being worth the risk just to see him trying to pull off acting like anything but the epitome of a boy next door stereotype. Being courteous came way too naturally to him.

“What was that favor you mentioned yesterday?” he asked out on the sidewalk in front of his building.

She took a deep breath, letting the cool night air clear her mind of the many thoughts she’d entertained that evening. “I mentioned Luke was in town. He showed up at the apartment Thursday, said my dad sent him to tell me something.”

“And he walked away alive?” Jason asked, eyebrows raised.

“Barely,” Annabeth replied, laughing. It was a shame Jason had missed the aggressively protective team Percy and Piper had made. “I need to know what my dad sent him to say, but that’s not all of it. I think I need to confront him directly. I think I need to look him straight in the eye and tell him I know what he did to me, but that I won’t let it control me anymore. He doesn’t get to have any power over me.”

Jason considered her for several seconds, his hands in the pockets of his jeans, the breeze ruffling his hair. “How do you do it?”

“Do what?” she asked, unable to meet his eye under such scrutiny.

“Be so,” he paused, his brow furrowing and mouth hung agape as he searched for the right word, “fearless.”

Annabeth laughed, shaking her head in disbelief. She was as far from fearless as people came. Even just when it came to confronting Luke, the list of her fears felt endless – she was afraid to tell Percy she wanted to meet with him at all, afraid to tell Piper the same, afraid she would get there and lose all her resolve, afraid what her father sent him to say might destroy her in an entirely new way. Fear was Annabeth’s constant companion.

“I’m not fearless,” she replied, shrugging. “I just know that even if the world burns down around me, I won’t be alone.”

“You’re right,” Jason agreed, ducking his head and turning to scan the street. “You aren’t alone.”

“Neither are you,” Annabeth reminded him, not necessarily because she thought he didn’t know it, but because that particular reminder never hurt.

He continued to watch the street ahead of him, seeming to weigh those words carefully. “I’ll be there,” he finally replied. “When you meet with Luke, if that’s the favor you meant.”

“You’ll be okay seeing Piper?” she asked gently, her greatest concern. Asking that of the two of them did not come easily to her, but she knew facing Luke was not something she could do without both of them. And, honestly, now that she knew about Luke’s connection to Jason, the idea of him tagging along just to throw Luke off really appealed to her.

“Well,” he replied, taking much less time to contemplate that question than Annabeth had expected, “I’m not okay _not_ seeing her, so it can’t get any worse.”

She hesitated to ask the question that came to her next, thinking back to the deal she’d made with Percy earlier that week, but Annabeth figured they were way past that already, anyway. “You’re not giving up on her, are you? You’re going to fight, not just against your dad, for her.”

Jason’s eyes remained on the cars slowly passing by, an unusual mess of traffic for a Sunday night. Annabeth had joked about him being _attractive enough_ , but he was a formidable sight there on the sidewalk. His face was all hard and defined angles, a strong jaw set with bone deep resolve. The doodles on his arm, visible from his short sleeves, were a rough and almost childish draft, but both Grace siblings had already put thought into them. If and when they were turned to real ink embedded in his skin, they would be a testament to who Jason was, his secret and underestimated strength. Jove Grace had no idea what he was up against. That piece of shit had been playing with fire for years and was finally about to be burned.

“If she doesn’t want to be together, I’ll respect that,” he finally said, the words seeming to cause him physical pain, “but I need to be sure that’s a choice _she’s_ making, not one being made for her. I’m fighting for that choice, for hers, and for mine. As long as we get to choose for ourselves, I’ll be able to live with not being hers.”

“Tell her,” Annabeth replied, placing a hand on Jason’s arm and throwing away all shame as she turned her words into a plea. She loved two massive idiots who would both be so much happier if they’d just be honest with each other. “Tell her you’re fighting, Jason.”

“I will,” Jason said, finally looking Annabeth in the eye again. “I just need a little more time.”


	98. Chapter 98

Hitting things was fun. Hitting things felt _good_.

Piper hadn’t realized just how much she’d missed the gym until she was back in it, strapping on gloves with Dakota and getting ready to pulverize a punching bag. He had been impressed with her minor bruising from breaking Dylan’s nose the day before and beamed with pride when she reported how much damage the other party had incurred. She still struggled a little with how easily he welcomed her back into the fold, but those frustrations were what the punching bag was for, and Piper let them loose.

Like all her sessions before it, their time ran out too soon. The ache in her muscles from once again being put to use told her that stopping was probably for the best, but Piper would have been content to wail on that bag for the entire night, sore body be damned. At least she could look forward to an especially good night’s sleep, under the assumption exhaustion served as an effective tool for staving off her nightmares.

When she returned to the apartment, not having bothered to change out of her gym clothes or shower before leaving, Percy waited on the couch, sprawled out and watching a movie Piper did not recognize on sight. 

“Is Annabeth not back yet?” she asked, glancing at the time on her phone – just past six, already a couple hours since Annabeth had left to see Jason.

“Nope,” Percy grumbled, not even glancing up from the TV. “She texted not to expect her until late.”

Hanging her duffle bag over the back of one of the armchairs in the living room, Piper headed into the kitchen to grab a smoothie from the fridge. “What are they even doing?”

“ _Hanging out_ ,” he replied, impressing even Piper with how effectively he poured his annoyance into those two words. She could relate. Piper was annoyed about Annabeth and Jason hanging out alone, too, as immature as that annoyance may have been.

The two of them maintaining their friendship was a good thing. Piper was happy for them, thankful Jason had not lost Annabeth as a friend. Annabeth was the most amazing friend on the planet and Jason needed good friends. That didn’t make their hanging out alone on a Sunday night not weird. Maybe Piper would have understood if it had been a day when Percy had training and couldn’t join them, but Sundays were his day off. Percy had been decidedly _excluded_. Weird.

“Yeah, but what are they _doing_ while they’re hanging out?” Piper asked, returning to the living room with her smoothie in hand and throwing herself into the armchair she’d hung her bag on.

“Whatever,” Percy sighed. “I don’t care what they’re doing.”

Percy cared so obviously and desperately that Piper didn’t even feel bad for laughing at him. “So, which of them are you jealous of?”

“Huh?” he replied, looking away from the TV for the first time since she’d walked in the door.

“Are you jealous Annabeth is spending time with Jason,” Piper asked, holding her left hand up, then her right, with the smoothie bottle in it, as she continued, “or are you jealous Jason is spending time with Annabeth?”

He blinked at her for several seconds. “They’re the same thing.”

“They are _not_ the same thing,” she insisted, laughing again. “Okay, I’ll put it another way – are you upset Annabeth isn’t spending time with you right now, or that Jason isn’t spending time with you?”

“Annabeth, obviously,” he replied without hesitation. A whole ten seconds passed and then he amended, “Not that I’m upset. I don’t care.”

Piper hummed, deciding to humor him by not arguing and instead taking a long drink of her smoothie. “What do you want for dinner?”

Burgers, fries and milkshakes. It took over an hour for dinner to arrive, Piper using that time to shower and change into a fresh set of sweats. Percy did not move from his spot on the couch, finishing his movie and not bothering to change the channel when another one started. Only when their dinner arrived did he roll (literally) off the couch to sit around the coffee table on the floor with Piper, their respective meals spread out before them. His mood improved somewhat once he had a little food in him, but his continued overall grumpiness made Piper want to text Annabeth just to rat him out.

“So, does it bug you?” Percy asked into the companionable silence they’d been sharing along with their meal.

“Does what bug me?” she replied, though she knew exactly what he meant.

Percy tossed a fry in his mouth and studied her while he chewed, leaned back on one arm. His gaze wasn’t the threatening kind of intimidating Annabeth exhibited so naturally, but his eyes pierced Piper just the same. Rarely did he turn that intensity on her, but when he did, Piper got the eerie feeling he was somehow seeing right through to the very building blocks of her existence. She understood exactly what had drawn Annabeth to him in those moments – that blend of depth, rawness, honesty and tenderness was exactly what Annabeth had needed for years.

“Does it bug you that Annabeth and Jason are _hanging out_ tonight,” he finally answered, his tone generally gentle despite the sarcastic way he once again referenced the two spending time together.

She had to look away before she could answer. Lying to him would have been easy, except she had grown far too weary of lying to bother telling even a small one. “I wouldn’t say it bugs me, but it’s strange.”

“You know,” he started, fiddling with the straw in his mostly finished milkshake, and then he fell silent again. His brow furrowed and he looked past her at the TV, but Piper wasn’t sure if he was thinking or just suddenly distracted by a string of explosions in the movie playing in the background.

When close to a minute had passed, Piper gently nudged Percy with her foot under the table. “I know what?”

“Never mind,” he said, shaking his head and returning to stuffing fries in his mouth in an entirely unattractive fashion.

In the first days after the breakup, Piper had understood the coddling, the way everyone treated her like an antique porcelain doll that might shatter if handled even just a little too heavily. She was growing tired of that treatment very quickly the more time passed. In part her frustration stemmed from her own guilt – they should be _letting_ her break, because she deserved it, had brought it upon herself. More than that, she just no longer _felt_ that fragile. The birth of her sister, the hopefulness she still harbored about her relationship with her father, the fulfillment she already received from her job, all of it had given her back a modicum of strength. People needed to stop tiptoeing around her.

“What?” Piper pressed, nudging him again, this time a little harder.

For a few more seconds Percy remained silent, and Piper was close to actually kicking him properly, but then he shrugged. “I just think you’ve handled everything the last month really well.”

“You’re kidding, right?” she replied, snorting a laugh of disbelief. “Percy, I haven’t had two consecutive undisturbed nights of sleep in close to a month, I was in _jail_ yesterday, and I’m pretty sure Annabeth is pissed at me.”

“I mean, okay, yeah,” he agreed, a playful smile pulling at his lips, “but, first of all, going to jail because you punched an asshole for harassing you is fucking awesome. Second, I may not know what your nightmares are about, but they’re not your fault, and they’re not an indication of any kind of failure on your part. And, third, _if_ Annabeth is pissed at you, and that’s a big if, it’s just because she loves you and wants the best for you. I don’t think I need to tell you that she’s pretty stubborn when she gets something in her head.”

Piper couldn’t help smiling in return at his last caveat. “Noticed that, did you?”

“Didn’t take long,” he confirmed, smile growing, softening into something more affectionate than teasing. 

This time when Piper gave Percy’s leg a shove with her foot, it wasn’t to force an answer out of him. He was just so adorably in love with her best friend and she could not deal with the tooth rotting sweetness like a mature adult. “And you’re still here?”

Percy hummed as he chewed an unattractively large mouthful of bacon cheeseburger. “I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed, but she’s also very cute.”

“No, she’s definitely the worst,” Piper disagreed, if only for the fact that Annabeth was still missing, doing whatever the hell she and Jason were entertaining themselves with that evening. “Did she say how late she was going to be?”

“Just _late_.” He sighed, shoving a handful of fries in his mouth after and continuing to talk around the food. “I mean, if they were working on his room or whatever, wouldn’t they just say that? Why are they being so secretive about it?”

“But like,” Piper started, pinching her face into a deep frown and huffing out her nose, “why does it bother me so much? They’re probably just watching CNBC and drinking decaf coffee while debating the merits of the shade _Super White_ versus _Extra White_ for his bedroom walls or something.”

Covering his mouth with a hand, elbow resting on the table, Percy’s eyes shined with amusement. “That might be the most scathing thing anyone has ever said about either of them.”

“You know I’m right,” she insisted, tipping her milkshake at him before she sucked up a big gulp through her straw.

“I did see some of the paint swatches Annabeth’s got for him and there was a shade called _Chantilly Lace_ ,” Percy confirmed, letting out another sigh. “There was another just called _Calm_. Maybe we should be worried about them, Piper.”

A month ago, Piper would have suggested they go crash whatever and wherever Annabeth and Jason were, or at the very least call and give them a bad time. Those were no longer options, though. She could always hassle Annabeth, of course, but with Jason thrown into the mix, Piper knew she had to stay out of it. That was one of the oddest things about life post-Jason, the fact that it wasn’t really post-Jason. He was still there, on the outskirts of her life. No one else she’d ever dated had stayed a presence in her life once that relationship had ended.

Jason had been a lover, but he’d also been a friend. More than anyone she’d ever dated, Piper genuinely enjoyed spending time with him – whether it was lazing around at the apartment, window shopping, or even just texting him throughout her day. She missed listening to his thoughts or the way he smiled when she teased him as much as she missed his kiss or touch. Losing him had been a double whammy.

“Instead of worrying about them, we should do something way more fun so they feel like losers when they hear about it,” she decided, instead of expressing any of the more complex emotions their predicament had inspired.

Percy nodded slowly, studying Piper very carefully. “There’s one problem with that idea.”

“What?” she asked, leaning back against the chair behind her.

“The workout Coach had me do yesterday has my legs burning so much that I don’t think I could do anything but sit here for the rest of the night,” he replied, shoulders drooping from the weight of his own pitiful state.

Grabbing her milkshake and teasing its straw between her teeth, Piper looked around the apartment, seeking some kind of inspiration. Being honest, she was a little relieved Percy didn’t want to do anything too crazy. Piper still struggled to find enough energy just to get through her days and didn’t know if she’d have it in her to go out and hit the town, especially with work to consider the next morning. It was a depressing thought, but Piper felt like she’d become an old woman that night of graduation, between all her new responsibilities and the burden of her broken heart.

“Do you realize what this means, Percy?” Piper finally asked, pouting shamelessly around her straw, eyes wide. When he shook his head, she sighed. “It means we’re the boring ones. They’re at least out there doing _something_. We don’t even want to leave the apartment.”

“No,” Percy said, shaking his head emphatically. “No, there’s no way we’re the boring ones.”

“Think about it,” she insisted, shoving his leg under the table again, as if their boringness was all his fault. “Neither of us are drinking right now. All we do is work and come home. We’ll probably both be in bed by midnight – I mean, you may stay up longer, but I literally have to be. I have a bed time, Percy. A bed time! I’ve never had a bed time before in my life.”

“Wait, you’ve never had a bed time?” he asked, his eyebrows shooting up as far as humanly possible.

She laughed, sparing her own statement only a few extra seconds thought before shrugging. “I guess I probably did before my mom died, but not since then. When it was just me and Dad, I usually put myself to bed before he got home at night. Even at school, we had curfews and lights out, but those were easy to get around and they almost never did actual bed checks.”

Leaning back on one arm, Percy looked at her, seeming to weigh his next response, and it was then Piper realized how casually she’d mentioned her mother. Bringing her mom up to anyone had always been near impossible for Piper, but the words had come out of her naturally. She wasn’t sure what caused it, whether it had something to do with how at ease she felt around Percy, how prominent her mother had been in her mind since graduation, something else entirely, or a mix of all the above. Regardless, she knew there would be no turning back now.

“How old were you when she died?” he asked, fiddling with the remnants of fries in his basket.

“Seven,” Piper answered, deciding not to avoid or change the subject. She had a feeling Percy wouldn’t have been upset if she tried, but that knowledge just put her more at ease. It allowed her to toe a line she’d usually been too afraid to cross.

Percy nodded, but he didn’t express any pity or offer any platitudes. “Was that before your dad made it big?”

“Yeah,” she confirmed, finding it strange to think back on that period in time after the newfound openness with her father. “Back then he’d just had one recurring role on some medical drama I can’t remember the name of and a few other small gigs. He spent most of his time going to open casting calls and just trying to get his foot in the door, networking, that kind of thing. I didn’t see much of him.”

For as long as she remembered, she’d thought he hadn’t cared, but Piper realized now that Tristan McLean had been dealing with grief of his own, along with trying to figure out how to take care of a seven year old girl he barely knew. He hadn’t been much older then than Piper was now. Considering Piper could barely handle _herself_ , she couldn’t imagine trying to figure out raising a kid on top of it all, and she was significantly better off financially.

“I didn’t see much of my mom at that age, either,” Percy offered, his voice wistful and melancholy. “My dad – like, my biological dad, I mean – he was never in the picture, so providing for us fell on her. I think she got me into swimming just so I’d have somewhere to go after school when she had to work and stuff. It’s not like I’m complaining or anything. She was nineteen when I was born. I know it wasn’t easy, and she still gave me a lot of great memories, but it’s weird to think about now – that I was seven and walking myself home, making myself dinner, putting myself to bed.”

Piper struggled to meet Percy’s eye at the mention of his biological father. In her active attempts to _forget_ what she’d seen in that file, Piper had managed to block the man’s face out of her mind, and she had forgotten his name just as quickly as she’d read it. None of that saved her from feeling guilty about the fact she knew something she wasn’t supposed to, that Percy had not confided in her about himself.

“Did you ever meet your dad?” she asked, not exactly sure why she found herself curious when she should have been running away from the topic as fast as possible.

“Once,” he answered, his nose wrinkling in distaste. “It sucked.”

When she reached out her foot to nudge Percy under the table again, it was much lighter than the previous times, and Piper smiled at him softly. “Do you want the rest of my fries?”

“Are you giving me _pity fries_?” he asked, though his expression morphed instantly into a smile and his eyes flickered to the pile of unfinished fries in question. His meal was finished, but Piper knew him well enough to figure he hadn’t had nearly enough to eat and her appetite had faded.

“I just told you my mom died when I was seven and you think you’re getting pity fries for having a shitty dad? There’s no pity for that here. We’ve all got one of those,” she replied, smiling wider. That was easily one of the most morbid things she’d ever said, but the perpetual tightness in her chest seemed to loosen a little.

Anyone else likely would have found the joke too dark, but it landed with Percy, who let out a warm belly laugh as he took his cue to steal her remaining fries. “As far as I’m concerned, Paul’s my only dad.”

“Did it take long for you two to get close?” she asked, setting her empty cup back on the table. Working toward a better relationship with her own father made her extra curious about how they had become so tight knit, but she’d always found Percy’s family to be an especially beautiful thing, built from little more than the desire to love and the willingness to fight for it.

“It was weird at first,” Percy admitted, mouth full of fries as he spoke. “I think I had a hard time seeing him as anything but a teacher while I was in high school. Paul made Mom happy and that was all that mattered to me in the grand scheme of things, but for a long time I felt guarded around him. Going from it just being me and Mom – and Hazel, during the summers – to _four_ of us all the time was a big learning curve, too.”

“You worked it out, though,” Piper said, not a question, an observation. While she hadn’t seen much of Paul and Percy together, she remembered the way Paul’s eyes had shined with pride at graduation when looking at Percy, and how fondly he’d spoken of his son during Leo’s going away party.

Percy nodded, washing down another mouthful of fries with a big drink of his milkshake and then grinning. “Around when Estelle was born things kind of changed. He took paternity leave, so I only saw him at home for most of that school year. He was almost always either passed out on the couch exhausted or running around changing diapers and making bottles and shit. I guess I just stopped associating him with _teacher_ and started associating him with _dad_. After that it was easy to see the things we had in common and build from there. It wasn’t like an epiphany moment or anything, just something that happened gradually.”

Drawing her legs up against her torso, Piper set her chin on her knees and hummed. They might have become boring in recent weeks, but she kind of liked this quiet evening in, just her and Percy. His mind was interesting to pick, and she appreciated the relaxed flow of conversation. There were still so many things for Piper to learn about Percy. This familiar back and forth created a pleasant atmosphere for beginning to understand him a little better.

Another thing about this conversation was nice, too, though. In the midst of her strange, borderline fight with Annabeth, Piper didn’t have anyone to talk to about her dad. She knew Annabeth would listen even through the anger, but opening the door for communication on that front would likely just result in other topics Piper didn’t want to discuss yet being brought up.

“It felt like an epiphany with my dad,” she told him, pulling her knees a little closer for the sense of safety curling up provided. “We talked on the phone this morning and it was nice, but I’m scared it’s not going to stick, and if it doesn’t stick I’m just going to be even more messed up than before.”

Additional fries finished, Percy took a few seconds to suck the salt from his fingers, eyes narrowed in thought. “Will you be more messed up than before, though?”

“Is that your way of telling me I can’t get any more messed up than I already am?” she replied, voice playfully flat.

“No, you could absolutely get more messed up than you already are,” he said, laughing as he leaned back on both arms, at least looking momentarily content with the amount he’d had to eat. “I’m just saying, you don’t know you’ll be worse off just because it doesn’t work. Yeah, you’re opening yourself up to being disappointed or hurt again, but you’re also opening yourself up to being surprised, to a life that might be a lot richer. If he lets you down, you can still take pride in the fact you had the courage to try. Your dad’s failure in this would be _his_ fault, not yours.”

Piper tucked her face into the crevice between her knees, mulling over Percy’s point, which did feel like a good one. “When did you get so smart?”

“Probably around the time I started getting boring,” he replied, the sigh he exhaled heavy, but also a breathy kind of laugh.

“Was that when you started dating Annabeth?” Piper teased, smiling into her knees.

“Might seem like it, but no,” Percy said, scrunching in his face in confusion over his own conclusion. “If anything, dating Annabeth made me interesting again. Before we met all I’d done since last summer was coast – school, work, swim team stuff, only hanging out with a handful of people.”

“I mean, isn’t that exactly what you’re doing now,” she said, still mostly teasing, eyebrows raised, “just minus the school, merging the work and swim team stuff, and hanging out with a couple new people?”

Percy shook his head confidently. “I’m not sure I was actually depressed, but last summer definitely put me in a funk, to say the least. Even in the pool, I did the bare minimum just to stay on the team and keep my scholarship, figuring I’d be done once the school year was over. Right now I might not have the time or energy to go out and party or whatever, but I’m happy. I know what I want to do and I’m not going to let anything or anyone stop me from doing it. Next week I’m going to go to Omaha and give it everything I’ve got, and even if I fucked over my chances at making it to Rome by slacking off for months, I still know I’ll be happier than if I’d actually given up.”

“You took the sponsorship or whatever because of Annabeth,” Piper replied, tilting her head to look at him more closely, “but you could have still done the bare minimum, qualified for Omaha and been done. How the hell did you get from being ready to give up to having so much motivation?”

“I didn’t take the sponsorship for Annabeth,” Percy said, hanging his head slightly, as if the admission were something to really be ashamed of. “I said I did, told myself I did at the time, but I think even she knew I was really doing it for myself. The thing I owe Annabeth the most thanks for is letting me use her as an excuse. Maybe I would have found one without her, but who knows how much longer it would have taken, if by then it would have been too late. That day I went in and told Coach I was ready to start taking things seriously again was one of the best days of my life.”

 _An excuse_. Piper repeated the word _excuse_ in her mind several times, testing it, weighing it carefully. 

Last summer Percy had convinced himself that swimming was not an option for him – whether it was out of fear or protectiveness or some combination of the two, the reason didn’t really matter in the end. Giving up hadn’t been what Percy really wanted, but he’d needed a reason to justify the risk in his mind beyond his own happiness. Doing it for himself should have been enough, but Piper could understand his reservations about being selfish at the possible detriment of someone he loved. Annabeth hadn’t been his true motivation, and shouldn’t have been, but she’d provided the burst of courage he needed to take the leap he couldn’t before.

That was something Percy had done for Annabeth, too. He’d been her excuse to face going home, to open up about what had happened with Luke. Those were things Annabeth had needed and wanted to do for herself, too, but chasing after the potential happiness Percy represented had given her the strength she hadn’t been able to summon on her own.

Once again, Piper tucked her face between her knees, though this time she pretended to turn her attention to the movie still playing in the background. Whatever was happening on the screen couldn’t hold her attention, though. The only thing on her mind was that word, excuse, and the ramifications it represented. Jason had been afraid of his father for so long, not once dared to stand up to the man. She’d assumed he never would, that he didn’t have it in him, but maybe he’d been waiting for an excuse all along.


	99. Chapter 99

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter contains explicit content.

Annabeth had asked Percy to come to bed early Monday night so they could talk before she needed to go to sleep. It had been her true and honest intention that they would actually have a conversation. When she’d walked in from the bathroom and found him sprawled out in bed, leaning against the headboard, his arms tucked behind his head lifting his shirt just enough to expose a sliver of stomach, suddenly talking was the last thing on her mind.

It wasn’t fair that he was so distracting. It wasn’t fair that one look from him could have her entire body tingling with anticipation. It wasn’t fair that all it took was his hands on her body, even over her clothes, for the tension to begin melting out of her.

There were no objections from Percy when she immediately climbed into his lap. Annabeth kissed him until her lips began to feel sore, her head spinning and her lungs tight from breathlessness. Everything else faded into the background as she ran her hands over his chest, up into his hair, around to his back, pressed so close to him she wasn’t sure if she was feeling her own heart pounding or his. There was no particular urgency in either of them, even as his hands slid under the hem of her shirt and went exploring, just as greedy to discover her body as he had been the very first time.

When finally, after time had started to lose all meaning, Annabeth dropped her lips to his jaw to begin tracing the sharp line of it and Percy said, “I thought you needed to talk about something.” His voice was raw, heavy and taunting, and it made shivers run up her spine.

“You distracted me,” she admitted as she tilted her face to his ear and gave it a gentle tug between her teeth, a rush of satisfaction going through her when his fingers dug into her skin in response.

“I didn’t do anything,” he replied, the smile in his voice audible and his words followed by a quiet moan when she started to suck down his neck.

She took her time traveling the length of his neck, savoring the taste of his skin and the subtle encouraging sounds he made, continuing to put the idea of talking out of her mind. Some part of her was probably running away from the topic she needed to broach, but if avoiding it had been her intention she wouldn’t have asked him to come back at all. He really was just too irresistible, a fact supported by the way she started to curl her fingers into his shirt so she could pull it up and off him even after his reminder about their conversation.

Before she could begin stripping him, though, Percy reached around and took hold of her wrist to stop her. Annabeth leaned back enough to look at him, her brow furrowed in confusion. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s something I kind of wanted to talk to you about, too,” he told her, flashing a sheepish grin. “I’m not sure if it’ll upset you and I think… probably we should get it out of the way _before_ we do anything else, because I don’t want to have sex and then make you mad.”

His explanation left her feeling a mix of disappointment at having to stop, affection at his consideration, guilt for not having had the same forethought, and concern over what it was he needed to talk to her about. “You go first, then,” she offered, settling into his lap, intent on staying there with her arms wrapped around his neck and the warmth that radiated off him surrounding her.

Percy nodded, took a few deep breaths – probably both to bolster his courage and clear his mind – and then bit the bullet. “My ex-girlfriend, my first ex, from high school, is living in Rome. She wants to hang out while we’re there. If we get to go, I mean.”

“Obviously we’ll get to go,” Annabeth replied automatically, rolling her eyes. The instinct to assure him of that fact had become so natural she didn’t even have time to process what he was saying. It took a second or two for his words to sink in and a subtle sense of dread to settle over her. At least she knew he was right – if he’d brought this up _after_ sex, she probably would have been significantly more displeased.

Catching the change in her demeanor, Percy was quick to press ahead. “I haven’t seen her since we graduated high school, but she was always a good friend to me. She’s excited to see me, to see everyone, really. You can come along. I’d _want_ you to come along, meet her and stuff.”

“You still talk to her?” Annabeth asked, her arms dropping from where they’d been resting on his shoulders.

“Not really,” he answered, his eyebrows slowly beginning to crease. “Hazel talks to her pretty often, but I hadn’t even had a text from her since before you and I started dating. We stayed friends when we broke up, but after high school she moved and we kind of drifted apart.”

Annabeth crossed her arms over her chest, turning her head to stare at the wall instead of continuing to look at Percy. The jealousy already tugging at her heart was completely irrational. She had nothing to be jealous of, especially when Percy hadn’t seen this ex in years, and hadn’t even sent her a text in months. Negative thoughts swirled in her mind anyway – this wasn’t just any ex, this was his first girlfriend, his first love, the first girl he’d ever had sex with. Naturally there would be some sentimentality there for him, and Annabeth knew Percy had been with his first girlfriend for years.

Meeting Cal had been an accident, and the situation had been different on its face simply because of Leo’s feelings. Annabeth had been able to stomach it, for Leo’s sake and for Percy’s, by extension. Percy had only been with Cal a few months, too, and though Annabeth knew Percy well enough to understand short didn’t translate to without meaning or importance, that somehow still made it a little easier for her to overcome the worst of her jealousy and insecurity that in Montauk.

They had never spoken much about Percy’s first girlfriend and Annabeth had never gone digging for information. Annabeth didn’t know her name, or what she looked like, or anything beyond the fact that they’d started dating when they were both freshman and broken up when they were juniors. A nameless, faceless blob was kind of how Annabeth had wanted the other woman to stay, as immature as it sounded even to her own mind.

“There’s nothing for you to be jealous of,” Percy finally said, Annabeth’s continued silence clearly making him feel on edge.

“Easy for you to say,” she replied, heaving a sigh.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Percy’s nose wrinkle. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t have… Before you…” Annabeth struggled to find the words to explain it, the frustration, the irritation, the jealousy that wasn’t just aimed at his _exes_ , was inexplicably aimed at _him_ , because a part of her wished she had proper past relationships of her own to remember fondly. Instead all she had was a monster who continued to torment her even years later, no matter how much she wished he’d leave her alone. “There isn’t anyone in my past for you to be jealous of. I didn’t date. You have these… these girlfriends and experiences, people you loved and cared about, and I just have…”

“Do you think I’m not jealous of Luke?” Percy asked, a surprising amount of tenderness in his voice that had Annabeth turning to look back at him. That same tenderness was reflected in his eyes.

The idea of Percy envying anything about Annabeth’s relationship with Luke was so preposterous it was practically laughable. “What reason could you possibly have for being jealous of _Luke_?”

It was Percy’s turn to look away while he thought. Annabeth noticed his fists curled into balls, gripping at the comforter beneath him. From that and the set of his jaw, she knew he struggled against the barely contained anger that had colored nearly every conversation they’d ever had about Luke. Ironically, Luke was exactly what she’d intended to talk to him about that evening, so she supposed this had been where they were always going to end up.

“Beth, I know what happened with him wasn’t a relationship. It was abuse,” Percy finally began, looking her in the eye again. The tenderness hadn’t faded, but in the depths of those sea-green eyes churned a storm of conflict. “That’s not something I’m jealous of, or would ever feel envious about. Thinking about him, about what he did to you and everything you went through after the fact, makes me furious. 

“But there’s this,” he paused, bringing one hand up to signal at his own head with wiggling fingers, “this voice in the back of my mind, and sometimes when I think about it, I think about the good things you saw in him, things you liked about him and were attracted to. From our perspective now, it’s clear as day what a predator and generally terrible person he is, but that wasn’t what you saw back then. As crazy as it sounds, I sometimes end up comparing myself to the person you thought he was and when that happens I don’t really understand how I could stack up.”

Annabeth reached out, running her fingers through his hair and tracing the shape of his face with them as she studied him. Countless times she had done the very same thing, comparing herself to Cal and wondering what Percy could see in her when he’d been with someone she thought was damn near perfect. Luke was, of course, nowhere near perfect in either her or Percy’s eyes, but she could understand what Percy felt just the same. There _were_ good things Annabeth had seen in Luke, or thought she’d seen, once upon a time. She’d thought he was intelligent and caring, a classic romantic, that he’d respected and treasured her unlike anyone else. Those things had all been lies.

“Percy,” she said gently, ruffling her fingers through his hair again. “ _You_ are everything I wrongly thought he was and then some.”

He snorted in disbelief, though he didn’t retreat from her touch. “You don’t have to lie to me, Beth. He’s got that whole super smart and academic thing going on and I know you found that attractive.”

“You have a degree in psychology from NYU,” Annabeth replied easily, giving his hair a gentle tug to tilt his head up toward her. “You’re also perceptive, quick-witted, inquisitive, clever and a million other things that all add up to you being one of the single most intelligent people I’ve ever known. So, yes, I found that attractive in him, and it’s probably the only thing I liked about him that wasn’t imagined, but I’m being honest when I say you have it all.”

Shy silence followed her words, Percy unable to meet her eyes. Annabeth slipped her hands from his hair to rest her palms against his cheeks and leaned in just enough to hover above his lips. Unsure of whether he’d want it, she let him close that final inch to kiss her, and close it he did. It was a slow kiss, and she poured her apology into it – Annabeth sorry for not having realized Percy felt even a small amount of insecurity about her past, while she’d assumed all along he wouldn’t be able to understand her own insecurity about his.

When she pulled away, tipping her forehead against his, Percy was the first one to speak again. “You want to meet with him, don’t you? That’s what you wanted to talk about?”

“Yeah,” she admitted, though already she was reconsidering how confident she had been about wanting it, in the new light of Percy’s confession. When it was just his righteous anger she thought created an issue, Annabeth figured they could manage it. Knowing his feelings were more complex made her hesitate. “I was planning on asking Dr. Brunner about it tomorrow, to see if he thought I was crazy for wanting to.”

“You aren’t crazy for wanting to,” Percy replied, tilting his head just enough to brush her lips again. “I make no promises I won’t hit him, but I told you before – whatever you need to do, I’m here for you.”

“No hitting him. One person I love at risk of jail time for assault is enough for this week,” she scolded, unable to keep herself from laughing even though it shouldn’t have been funny. 

The madness of her Saturday with Piper was still very fresh and very infuriating. Annabeth and Piper were in the phase of fighting where they pretended they weren’t upset with each other. Sometimes that phase would transition into them letting everything go and moving on. Sometimes it turned into an even worse fight. Which of those two possibilities they were headed toward, Annabeth was still unsure. Needless to say, the last thing she wanted was yet another punch thrown, especially at Luke, who Annabeth could say with great certainty wouldn’t bow to the pressure of Jason Grace’s name and so easily drop charges.

“I guess you have a point there. I promise to be on my best behavior,” Percy relented with a sigh that made Annabeth think that oath came with great difficulty, and that he wasn’t too happy about having to take hitting Luke completely off the table.

She was struck in that moment by her love for him, a fresh wave of it so overwhelming Annabeth almost didn’t know what to do with herself. All day she’d toiled over this conversation, overwhelmed with anxiety over the prospect of bringing it up and how he might react. He had known, though, and he offered her the same steadfast support she’d grown so accustomed to despite his own reservations, because meeting with Luke was about her and what she needed, not him. Percy had willingly given her a mile, Annabeth supposed she could give him an inch.

Leaning back, she met his eyes and nodded once. “Let’s have dinner or whatever with your ex while we’re in Rome, too.”

“Or whatever,” he repeated, a smile tugging haphazardly at his lips. His hands slipped around her waist, pulling her flush against him again. “That doesn’t seem like a very enthusiastic answer.”

“I’m agreeing, but I’m never going to be enthusiastic about meeting _another_ of your ex-girlfriends, Percy,” she told him, her hands coming to rest on his chest.

His smile widened. “There are only the two of them. You won’t have to do it again.”

“Until some girl you had a fling with comes knocking at our door because you ruined her for all other men,” Annabeth teased, just as unsettled as always by how easily Percy’s smile could put her at ease, her frustration and anxiety dissipating almost entirely. 

“I think it’s much more likely some old sap like me is going to show up because he’s been haunted by thoughts of you for years and needs to profess his undying love,” he retorted with narrowed eyes and a relaxed playfulness in his voice that told her he harbored no unspoken frustration over her decision about Luke, either.

A proper smile finally beginning to sprout on her lips, Annabeth tilted her face to nuzzle her nose against Percy’s. “Too bad for him I’m in the camp of being ruined by you for other men.”

While she had been mostly joking, the pride that flared behind Percy’s eyes was completely genuine and sent a rush of excitement coursing through her veins. In a blink Percy had pushed off the bed and flipped Annabeth onto her back. “Tell me more,” he said, inching down while a hand very slowly pushed her shirt up enough to expose her stomach. He wasted no time putting his lips on her skin.

If he hadn’t just confessed to having insecurities, she might have told him to shut up and take her pants off. Between that confession, his willingness to stand by her while she faced Luke, her own conflict about meeting his ex-girlfriend in Rome, and the anxiety always lurking just over the horizon where Piper was concerned, Annabeth wanted to give his ego a little, gentle stroking. There was also the small factor of his teeth grazing against her stomach and completely destroying her ability to think clearly about anything else.

“Well, for starters, there is not another person on this planet as gorgeous as you,” she told him, fingers threading into his hair again. Her eyes were locked on him, watching as his tongue swirled around her belly button and only having the truth of those words confirmed by the sight.

His eyes flickered up to her and he smiled against her skin. “Present company excluded.”

“Excuse you, I’m the one talking here,” Annabeth chided, giving his hair a firm tug in rebuke. A quiet moan rumbled deep in his throat and reverberated all the way to her core, making the budding ache between her thighs much more substantial.

There was no apology spoken for his interruption. Instead he inched up her stomach, using his nose to nudge her shirt up along the way until one of her breasts was exposed. She gasped as his tongue slid out against her nipple, having to actively remind herself there was something she was supposed to be doing other than just laying back and enjoying his touch.

Thinking was just so _hard_ because then he started doing the thing with his teeth that she could kind of never get enough of, and she absolutely loved his unfading fascination with her breasts, the way he teased them intentionally in moments like this to turn her on, but also played with them in a much more innocent fashion when they were lazing around. 

“How,” she breathed, “did you know almost everything I like without ever having to be told?”

Percy bit down, not too hard, but enough make her yelp as the sensation sent a flare of pleasure through her, and then soothed her nipple with a swipe of his tongue and gentle kiss. “You can’t tell me not to talk and then ask me questions.”

“Just answer the question if you know what’s good for you,” she told him, watching with glee as his pupils dilated in response to her firm tone.

“Maybe I don’t know what’s good for me,” he replied, his voice rough and dangerously low in what she recognized as a clear challenge. It knocked the breath out of her, made her struggle to remain still. For a few labored breaths they stared at each other, then his lips quirked up into a smile and the part of her brain that regulated impulse control completely shut down.

Her hands tugged at him, pulling him up so she could kiss him rough and fast, then she pushed him off. The confusion on his face was satisfying, and she grinned at him as she sat up and all but ripped her own shirt off. Just like that she was on him again, taking an advantaged position pushed up on her knees and capturing his lips. Kissing him then wasn’t like earlier, before their conversation. It was all urgency, desperation and need. 

Immediately his hands were on her breasts, squeezing them hard, and Annabeth had to resist the urge to groan encouragingly. She reached up to pull his hands away instead. “Those are off limits now, since you don’t know what’s good for you,” Annabeth said against his lips, before slipping her tongue into his mouth and pressing her torso flush against his. Despite the way he whined in clear objection – a sound that absolutely elated her – Percy did not try to return his hands to her chest, instead wrapping his arms around her so he could grope at her ass.

Placing a hand firmly on his jaw, she broke the kiss and held him with his head tilted so she could look him in the eye once she was feeling adequately lightheaded. “Your smile,” she told him. “No other man on this planet has a smile half as stunning as yours.”

Confusion fluttered across Percy’s face, apparently having thought they were done with that particular game. They were not, not by a long shot, but she used the opportunity to strip him of his shirt and dip her lips to his neck. She trailed down his torso, lingering shortly to tease his nipples before continuing to his abdomen. In this new position he had to release her ass so he could lean back on his arms and give her better access. He didn’t complain, though. 

“This ridiculous eight pack of yours,” she continued, her lips not lifting from his skin as she spoke, breaking between every few words so she could brush tongue or teeth against his taut muscles, “and all the endless, hard work you put into taking care of your body. Your passion for swimming is so sexy, Percy.”

“You don’t have to keep going,” he replied, and when she looked up at his face she could see a flush breaking across his cheeks, much deeper than the usual redness that colored his face during sex. The praise was already making him shy.

Grazing her teeth across his hipbone, right where the waistband of his shorts rested, Annabeth shook her head. “I might have stopped if you’d answered my question, but you didn’t,” she reminded him, deciding to add this to his list of consequences, as she hooked her fingers under the elastic of both his shorts and his underwear. Annabeth didn’t hesitate to pull them both down just enough to free his already substantial erection.

They maintained eye contact as her hand wrapped around his length and when she slid her tongue across his tip, he let out a breathy moan. She kissed him there, gentle, teasing, and then down his shaft before licking back up. “I swear if you’re about to start praising my dick, I’m going to actually laugh,” Percy managed to say, voice increasingly gravelly.

She was, admittedly, just about to do that very thing. Loving even that part of him didn’t seem so ridiculous to Annabeth, especially since it was responsible for an increasingly large portion of the pleasure he brought to her. For his sake, though, she decided not to put her thoughts to words. Instead she showed him by taking him fully into her mouth, and was pleased by the way his head fell back, his mouth hanging open.

It wasn’t her intention to finish him that way, not so easily. She teased him, never giving him too much of one thing – sucking on him fervently, working him with her hand, licking and kissing both his shaft and balls, dipping her head to the exposed skin of his inner thigh so she could graze her teeth against that sensitive skin. His hips jerked occasionally toward her, but she never allowed him to gain any control, retreating in response every time. When he was only just beginning to really get lost in the pleasure she provided, Annabeth released him entirely, again enjoying the quiet whine he let out.

When her lips found his again she kissed him shortly, then scooted back, smiling at him. Percy’s eyes were locked on Annabeth as she shimmied out of her own shorts and leaned against the headboard – and, God, did he look good with his chest heaving and his cock out and his tongue dragging across his bottom lip in anticipation. Annabeth pointed between her thighs as she spread her legs for him and said, “I come embarrassingly fast when you eat me out, and the fact that you so obviously enjoy every second makes it even more intoxicating.”

“All of these things seem to be about my body and sex,” Percy observed, though the teasing lilt in his voice and the continued flush in his face kept her from worrying he actually had a problem with her examples so far. Also, he was smiling as he finished stripping off his own shorts and underwear and then dove shamelessly between her thighs without any hesitation, clearly excited to prove her point for her.

Prove her point, he did. In practically no time at all his tongue, lips and teeth had her deteriorating into a useless, writhing puddle of ecstasy. His arms pinned her hips, muscles flexed from the force he put into keeping her still despite her increasingly aggressive attempts at rocking up against his face. Usually her hands would have been in his hair, but she missed his hands on her chest and so instead she put her energy into kneading her own breasts, further enthralled by the way his eyes kept watch on the movement and the longing way he groaned into her.

Her first orgasm washed over her in a blissful haze, her legs twitching and fighting against his hold. Percy did not relent when she was finished, though. His mouth continued to work, and then he slipped two fingers inside her, curling them to stroke inside her with expert accuracy. Before she’d even really had a chance to catch her breath after that initial orgasm, she was already hurdling toward her second. What little cognizance she maintained allowed her to take notice of the way his hips were grinding into the bed beneath him, and the thought of how turned on that simple action meant he was pushed her over the edge again.

“You okay?” he breathed, half teasing and half genuine, when he crawled back up to kiss her. Annabeth never could get enough of the taste of herself on his lips, sucking and licking at them greedily, her only confirmation a lazy nod.

Before long he was pulling away, reaching for the nightstand where they kept a very healthy supply of condoms. “The way you always check in on me,” she said heavily, running her hand appreciatively across his broad shoulders. “It always makes me giddy when you ask that question.”

“It’s a very selfish question,” Percy replied with a shake of his head, wasting no time in tearing the condom he’d procured open and slipping it on. 

Annabeth knew he meant what he said, that he truly thought his concern came from some selfish place, and she had to laugh. “You even thinking as much is yet another reason you are truly exceptional.”

His eyes narrowed as he settled back above her, and for a second she thought he might be waiting for her to give him another instruction, but then his hands grabbed her hips and in a swift motion he’d flipped her onto her stomach. A surprised giggle slipped past her lips as he lifted her hips off the bed, but it was stifled a second later when he pressed inside her. There was no more giggling after that, only a string of moans muffled into her pillow.

The pace Percy set was slow and sensual, and Annabeth was content to let him do most of the work. It had amazed her how quickly she’d grown to absolutely love penetration, and Percy brought her to orgasm while inside her more often than he didn’t. Sometimes she wished she could go back in time and tell herself how much she had missed out on during those first couple months she’d hesitated to take this step with him. There also wasn’t a single thing she would change about the journey she’d taken to get there, though – and she wasn’t entirely sure she could have enjoyed herself so naturally and fully without the groundwork of Percy’s unwavering patience and support making her feel so completely safe.

Even as he took her from behind, held near complete control, she still felt that immense safety. If so much as one thing felt wrong or uncomfortable, it would take nothing more than a word from her and she knew he would stop, regroup. That left her free to forget all else, and for that fact alone Percy would always remain matchless. Thankfully, there was nothing wrong or uncomfortable happening with Annabeth there on her knees, her face still buried in her pillow as she pleaded for more.

With each thrust and jerk of his hips, her pleasure continued to build, already so sensitive and relaxed from his earlier hard work that she could barely wrap her mind around how good it felt. Percy reached around and placed his palm flat on her stomach, drawing her up and backwards into his lap. Her head fell back against his shoulder, and his face dipped to press his lips against her neck, his labored breaths and quiet moans becoming loud right there next to her ear.

Her arm hooked around his neck as she took advantage of the change in position to pick up the pace Percy had set. She could feel him smile in response to the demanding movement of her hips, and his other arm wrapped around her along with the first, only to slide down and begin teasing her clit. Toes curled so tight she half expected her feet to start cramping, her moans came more frequently, the heat coursing through her veins so thick it could have very well melted her from the inside out.

“Beth, please,” Percy groaned, and with how close she felt to orgasm again, she thought for a second he was trying to hasten her release with that quiet begging. His fingers tickled just under one of her breasts, though, making her realize he wasn’t begging her to finish, he was so desperate to touch her that his pride had been thrown completely out the window.

“Go ahead,” she conceded, her heart in her throat, and once her breast was in his hand again it took little more before her senses were completely overwhelmed.

It was hot and sweet and felt like it dragged on forever, like once her orgasm started it would never end. Somewhere along the way she sensed him following her to the finish, but Annabeth’s mind turned all but blank as the pleasure that had been building within her was released yet again. With every subsequent thrust she felt herself coming undone again and, even though it felt like she was at real risk of being completely destroyed every time, she welcomed it gladly.

Minutes passed in a slow, groggy blur after, Annabeth not entirely sure she didn’t actually doze off in her blissful haze. When her mind finally cleared again she was laying with her head on Percy’s chest, both of them silent, just breathing. His fingers were tangled in her hair, playing idly with her curls. Her hand laid flat across his abdomen, relishing in how hot his skin remained to the touch. She wasn’t even sure when he’d managed to stop and get rid of his condom, but he’d apparently done it and wiped himself clean before they settled in.

“Was it always like this for you?” Annabeth asked, her voice small. Part of her was afraid of the answer, that what seemed so extraordinary to her might be ordinary to him, but she wanted to know all the same.

Percy laughed, a sound that was warm and hoarse. “Not even close. Even our first time, it was just… different. Better.”

Smiling as those words made her senselessly happy, her naturally jealous heart appeased, she wrapped her arm around his waist, draped one of her legs over him, and pressed as close as humanly possible. Annabeth knew she should make a trip to the bathroom, or that they should at least get covers over themselves before they fell asleep, what with the air conditioning leaving the room cool even though it was plenty warm outside, but her limbs felt like they were made of jello and any substantial movement outright impossible. At some point in the night she would surely wake up and see to those needs, so she allowed her eyes to flutter closed, ready to drift into a contented sleep.

“You ruined me for other women too, you know,” Percy said a few seconds later, words slurred from his mutual sleepiness.

“Good,” she replied, mostly teasing, but a little bit not. Annabeth could admit she was greedy enough to enjoy him being so completely hers. He just laughed again in reply, and then his laughter made way for the even, heavy breathing of sleep, a sound that lulled her to join him just as quickly.


	100. Chapter 100

Life for Piper had quickly become a real mixed bag.

Some really great things were happening for her. 

Will and Tristan were texting her regular updates about Elena, and Piper was relieved to know her sister was making good progress even in those first few days of life. On Monday afternoon she received a picture taken by Will of Naomi holding the baby, with Tristan smiling by their side. It had filled Piper with so much warmth and happiness, she hadn’t thought twice about setting it as her lock screen. Every time she looked at it, she laughed, wondering what she would have thought even just a month before if someone had so much as suggested she might have her _dad_ on her lock screen.

Work was also going well. Piper’s boss had been blessedly kind about the emergency time off and several of her co-workers had asked after her family’s well being once Piper was back in the swing of things. Most people at the office were fun to work with, the atmosphere positive and lively enough to encourage socialization, and Piper even thought a few of them might become very lovely friends.

Other things were not so great.

Piper’s nightmares had continued, though not as terrible as they’d been when they started. They no longer happened every night, and usually Piper had an easier time falling back to sleep when they did, but they still left her feeling drained and exhausted most days. It was hard to tell if the new measures Annabeth had implemented to offset them were working, but Piper tried to remind herself to give them more than half a week before giving up.

There was also the issue of _Annabeth_. After Saturday they had come to a silent, mutual agreement not to talk about their fight. Piper always kind of hated when they did that, but in the past their silence had usually been because Annabeth was the one stubbornly avoiding difficult subjects. This time they were at odds because Piper didn’t want to face the hard truth. It was her own damn fault they were struggling, so being upset with Annabeth about the tense truce wasn’t fair. What was or was not fair had never stopped Piper from doing whatever she wanted.

On Tuesday night Annabeth sat Piper down in the living room with an expression of unshakable determination on her face. Just that look told Piper she wasn’t going to like whatever Annabeth intended to talk to her about. She prepared herself for the two of them to have it out, for inevitable shouting, probably tears, and for the days of frustration she would face as a result – which would especially suck because Annabeth was leaving with Percy on Saturday for over a week, heading to Omaha for Nationals.

“I’m going to meet with Luke,” Annabeth said, throwing all of Piper’s concerns promptly out the window and replacing them with a whole new slew of insanity.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Piper replied, instantly deflating just at the thought. “Did Dr. Brunner think this was a good idea?”

“Yeah, he did,” Annabeth confirmed, not losing any of her resolve. “I talked to him about it today, about whether it would be worth it, if it’s something I’m ready for, and how to go about it. We put together a plan, and I feel good about it. Piper, I have to know what my dad sent Luke to say, and I have to make sure he never shows his face to me again.”

Piper huffed a breath out her nose, crossing her arms and leaning back on the couch. “And how does Percy feel about this?”

“He’s on board,” Annabeth said, her lips pressed into the thin line of a deep grimace. “I won’t say he particularly likes the idea, but he understands this is something I need to do.”

“Traitor,” Piper mumbled under her breath, noting the way Annabeth’s lips twitched toward a smile.

That smile didn’t last long, because Annabeth sobered and hardened again. “I want you there with me when I see him.”

They were in a fight, albeit with a truce called, yet Annabeth still said with such certainty that she wanted Piper by her side. Want, not just need. The distinction was clear and meaningful. No matter how messy things became between them, regardless of how upset they were, Annabeth still wanted Piper. Piper still wanted Annabeth, too, and always would.

“You can’t blame me if I slip up and accidentally murder him,” Piper replied, only half joking, “but I’m obviously going to be there.”

“The thing is,” Annabeth said, swallowing hard and hesitating just long enough to make Piper worry, “I also want Jason there.”

“Why?” Piper asked instinctively, an uncomfortable lump beginning to form in her throat.

Expression softening, as if knowing exactly how nauseous just the suggestion made Piper, Annabeth reached out and took Piper’s hand. Nothing could have prepared Piper for what she was told next – which, she supposed, was why Annabeth said it all so bluntly, like ripping off a bandaid. In a few short minutes Piper’s entire understanding of the world flipped on its head – from Luke’s warning in San Francisco, to the suspicion Annabeth had fostered after Piper’s comment about momentarily mistaking Luke for Jason, and finishing with the confirmation Annabeth had received Sunday about Luke being a Grace. Apparently discussing that revelation had been part of their suspicious little _hang out_.

“I’m confident Jason being there will throw Luke off,” Annabeth concluded, swallowing hard. “It’s not much, but it’s an advantage, and I need to take it.”

All of it seemed like madness to Piper, like a disaster just waiting to happen. Prodding Luke with Jason’s presence would throw him off, but also likely make him angry, potentially aggressive. Piper could also admit she didn’t know how she would handle being face to face with Jason again, how his presence might effect _her_ reasoning and behavior. Add in the fact all three of them, Piper and Percy and Jason, all hated Luke with a passion, and the situation went from simply unstable to a powder keg with fuse already lit.

Annabeth had probably thought of all these things already. Piper knew her well enough to realize that. Piper also knew Annabeth well enough to understand she would never be able to rest without finding out what Luke had been sent to tell her. This was a risk, but Annabeth had the courage and wherewithal to take risks. Maybe it was time Piper took a risk, too.

“Okay. I’m in,” Piper said, though she doubted it had ever really been in question. At the end of the day, even on bad ones when she was kind of mad at her best friend, there was nothing Piper wouldn’t do for Annabeth. She decided not to linger on all that could go wrong, or how terrified the prospect of seeing Jason left her.

Thankfully Piper didn’t have to wait long for the most uncomfortable encounter of her life. The next evening she found herself in the private room of an upscale restaurant on the Upper East Side, with Annabeth, Percy and _Jason_. After a little over a month, for better or worse, the band was officially back together again. 

They were seated at a circular table as they waited for Luke and, like the cherry on top of a nightmare sundae, Luke’s wife Penelope. A rich color combination of red and gold adorned the mahogany table and chairs. Minimal and warm lighting created a subtle glow in the small space that allowed them to see each other clearly without being blinded or uncomfortable. It wasn’t a place Piper might have chosen on her own, but the privacy allotted by the single room would prevent them from having to deal with any embarrassment should this confrontation result in raised voices or outright arguments, while still being public and neutral.

Piper actively avoided looking over at Jason. The brief hello she’d said to him, and the once over that had accompanied it, had been harder than she was going to admit that evening. In a blazer and a collarless button up shirt, still sporting the slightly longer hairstyle he’d adopted over the course of the five months they’d been together, he looked maddeningly good. Piper found herself wishing she’d worn something a little more impressive than the pencil skirt and blouse she’d chosen for work that morning, and that she’d refreshed her hair and makeup before leaving for the restaurant.

At least the Castellans had the decency to show up on time. 

“Were these theatrics really necessary, Annabeth?” Luke asked as he unbuttoned his blazer and took one of the two remaining empty chairs at the table. Lucky for him, he chose to sit next to Jason. If it had been Piper, she might have stabbed him in the thigh with a fork for his tone.

Seeing them seated beside each other, Piper was reminded of the strange experience she’d had the week before. They did look alike, strikingly so. Luke was older, his features more defined and sculpted from age, but the real resemblance came down to the eyes. Those were _Grace_ eyes. Piper had seen enough of them, all the variations they came in, to recognize a pair when she saw one. While Luke’s were more like the patriarch of the Grace family than Jason’s, there was no denying that particular shade of blue. She almost couldn’t believe Annabeth had never noticed it, but then she figured Annabeth probably never wanted to notice it.

She wondered what was going through Jason’s mind as he sat next to this newly discovered member of his family, someone who hated him without ever having met him. She wondered if Jason felt bad for Luke, having been kept out of the family and hidden away, or if he envied that distance from the same people who had so actively hurt him over the years. She wondered if he wanted as badly as she did to reach across that stupid table and take his hand – or maybe just brush his leg with her foot under the table, a secret exchange for only the two of them to know about, but just as reassuring.

“I didn’t realize dinner was theatrical,” Annabeth replied, her tone refreshingly sarcastic. The setting and support seemed to be doing their jobs, making Annabeth confident.

Luke’s eyes scanned the table, falling last on Jason beside him, where they narrowed and his lips curled into the tiniest hint of a snarl. In a split second, Penelope reached out and rested her hand on Luke’s leg. Piper took in Penelope’s appearance for the first time then. Objectively speaking, Piper supposed the woman was pretty enough, but with her expression pinched and her eyes narrowed into a glare, most of that objective attractiveness faded away. Her dark hair hung long and straight, a little limp and lifeless for Piper’s taste, and she wore what was probably the most boring black dress Piper had ever seen.

“Are you going to introduce us to your… _friends_?” Luke asked, after taking a few seconds to reign in whatever Jason’s presence had inspired in him.

Smiling without any warmth, Annabeth sat a little straighter in her seat and made formal introductions. No handshakes were exchanged. Piper didn’t even smile when Annabeth said her name. Neither did Jason, and Piper once again became desperate to know what was going through his mind. She hated that they would leave at the end of this dinner, go their separate ways, and she wouldn’t be able to talk it all over with him after. Countless times during the last month Piper had ached for Jason – for his comforting arms around her, and for the many, much less innocent, ways he touched her. That evening she knew she would be aching worse than ever, mostly for the sweet brilliance of his mind, and with the urge she already felt to offer _him_ comfort.

Eating didn’t exactly sound appealing, but they all ordered dinner when the waiter came around. It seemed like a bad idea, trapped them for longer than she thought was completely necessary for the conversation they were there to have. Annabeth insisted she had a plan, though, and Piper did her best to believe in that plan.

While orders were being taken, Jason made a show of asking the waiter about the restaurant’s wine selection, referencing vineyard names and vintages, something Piper had never seen him do even on their first few dates while he’d been trying to make a good impression. When all was said and done he ordered a bottle she knew came with a price tag of at least a few thousand dollars. That certainly wasn’t something he would usually have pulled, because Jason hated throwing money around needlessly and he didn’t even really like wine. It was all an act to help further rattle Luke.

“So, what brought you to the city, Luke?” Annabeth finally asked, as the group settled in to wait for their food and drink. 

Next to her, Percy sat reclined in his seat, his arm draped across the back of her chair, acting overly casual, like he didn’t have a care in the world. Piper could tell it was a farce – his eyes were sharp and dark, the lazy smile he wore not reaching them, and his body tense despite his posture, as if prepared to pounce on a moment’s notice. His hands kept curling into fists, too, flexing and relaxing like the air itself were a stress ball. Annabeth had to have sensed his anxiety, too, because one of her hands rested on his thigh, thumb rubbing against him in a subtle and gentle motion.

Luke’s eyes flickered toward Jason momentarily, but quickly settled back on Annabeth. “Family business.”

“I didn’t know you had family here,” Annabeth replied easily, her eyebrows shooting up as if she found this genuinely interesting and wasn’t just playing a very carefully concocted game. Luke had no idea Annabeth already knew it all.

“My father, yes,” Luke told her, his eyes narrowing. He wasn’t backing down in the face of her pressure, but Piper wasn’t sure whether that was a good or bad thing.

Their waiter arrived with Jason’s bottle of wine and Annabeth paused long enough for it to be served, not at all bothered by the interruption, nor shaken by Luke’s forward answer. Percy leaned in to whisper something to her while glasses were being filled, making a smile bloom on Annabeth’s face as easily as if this were any other night. She leaned to whisper a few words back, and in the most open public display Piper had ever witnessed from them, Annabeth grazed his earlobe with her teeth. 

When the group was alone again, Annabeth took her time picking up her wine glass and taking a preliminary taste of the dark red liquid. Jason did the same, though he hadn’t been involved in the conversation, and Piper noticed he wore a small smirk as he set his glass back on the table.

This was Annabeth’s game, but Jason was playing it, too. Something about Jason had felt different to Piper from the moment they’d arrived at the restaurant, but she hadn’t been able to put her finger on it until that moment. Whether just to support Annabeth through this or something more, Jason was now on the offensive. Standing up to Luke might be a far cry from standing up to Jove Grace, but the notable change in him still had Piper questioning herself.

“Are you not curious what Fredrick asked me to relay to you?” Luke finally asked, his developing impatience and annoyance clear from the strain in his voice.

To Piper’s surprise – and Luke’s, from the look on his face – Jason replied instead of Annabeth. “I’m more curious about _your_ father. What does he do for a living?”

“I think you know,” Luke replied, finally turning his head to look at Jason properly, a challenge in his tone.

“I do know,” Jason confirmed, then paused to take another appreciative sip of his wine to let Luke stew in the audacity of his callous delivery of those three words. “I also know you’ve been milking Harry for money for close to a decade and you’re desperate now that your source is cut off.”

“That money is my right,” Luke snapped back, falling easily for Jason’s trap. “You have no idea what I went through growing up because he kicked us to the curb.”

Jason studied Luke silently for a few seconds, finger tapping against the bowl of his wine glass. “I condone nothing Harry’s done, and I assure you the rest of his children are going to be provided for as they rightfully should have been all along, including the adults. You, however, are never seeing another cent.”

“Unless your family wants my story all over the tabloids, you’ll pay,” Luke said, his snarl returning. “Ask your brother what he and your father did to my mother. It’s not pretty.”

Before anyone else had an opportunity to speak, Annabeth took her turn. “Jason, remind me, where is it you’re working now?”

“Currently I’m editor-in-chief for a very popular little literary magazine,” Jason answered, not breaking eye contact with Luke. “Actually, Annabeth, I think your father did an interview with us earlier this year. Never made it to print for some reason.”

“Luke,” Annabeth started, her tone almost playful from the taunting lilt it took, “what do you think would happen to you – to your standing academically, and your reputation – if a publication of that renown decided to run an article detailing exactly what you did to me?”

Watching the back and forth between Luke and Annabeth and Jason left Piper feeling like she had whiplash. At the end of it she was so floored she almost didn’t know what to make of what she’d heard. Annabeth threatening to tell that story, to publish it for the entire world to see, seemed impossible. Piper didn’t think Annabeth was bluffing, though. No, she _knew_ Annabeth wasn’t bluffing, wouldn’t bluff about this.

Jove already had Annabeth’s story, at least what of it the reporter had heard back in February. The notes from that interview and a drafted article had been in his damned file, and Annabeth knew it. She acted so indifferent because she’d already accepted the inevitability of her story being brought public, come to terms with whatever revealing her painful history to the whole world would mean, and decided to use it to her advantage instead.

A hint of panic began to bubble in Piper’s stomach – if Annabeth’s story was fated to come out one way or another even though Piper had done everything Jove asked, it was just as likely the rest of those secrets would, eventually, once it was convenient for him. Everything she had sacrificed and, in the end, the outcome would be exactly the same, just a little more drawn out.

She’d almost missed it, but the offhand comment hit her fresh in the wake of her own thoughts. It wasn’t just Harry that Luke had referenced harming his mother. Luke had said the family had hurt her, and the family undoubtedly included Jove.

That night Piper had met with Jove Grace, he’d told her he paid several women off over the years to leave his other sons. As terrible as it sounded, Piper hadn’t been surprised by this. She had no doubt there had been countless people who’d tried to use the Grace children for financial gain, and that they would have been happy to leave after a big payday. For the first time Piper realized that probably meant Jove hadn’t settled if other women had refused to back off after his attempt at bribing them. Other women had been blackmailed, threatened, ruined. There would be more in the future, too. Piper hadn’t been the first and she wouldn’t be the last.

“Are you that bitter he didn’t choose you?” Penelope interjected, her first time speaking since she and Luke had arrived. The words startled Piper out of her thoughts, bringing her back to the present, though they didn’t particularly help ease her anxiety. 

Piper had never thought it was impossible for a couple to work through even the betrayal of an affair, and she tried not to judge anyone who decided to give their spouse or significant other a second chance under those circumstances. It wasn’t something she herself would ever be able to do, of course, but relationships were hard and people were flawed. For some, salvaging a relationship was worth the work and the risk that came with trying to rebuild trust, even when infidelity had been what broke that trust to begin with.

What had happened between Luke and Annabeth hadn’t been an affair or simple infidelity, though. Luke had manipulated and used a young girl, abused her. Staying with someone like that, remaining loyal to them, was just plain messed up. Piper had no qualms passing judgment about _that_.

For a few seconds the pretense of Annabeth’s scheme faded away and her expression turned pitying as she considered Penelope, seated across the table from her. “ _I’m_ the one who left that summer. I made that choice. Luke didn’t choose you, or anyone, he just got caught.”

“What do you want?” Luke asked, directing the question at Annabeth, the disdain plain in his voice.

When the waiter chose that moment to bring out the first course, Annabeth looked absolutely delighted with herself. Percy appeared dazzled as he kept his eyes on Annabeth while the waiter delivered plates, eyes shining and the first genuine smile of the night on his lips. They had that in common. Piper was a bit dazzled herself. Her heart ached at the reminder of how much she’d always loved seeing Annabeth and Jason work as a team. She was also glad Annabeth seemed so perfectly in control of this situation, even in the midst of unexpected outbursts like Penelope’s.

“I want you to promise you’ll never contact me again after tonight, under any circumstances, not even in my father’s name,” Annabeth finally answered, appetizers presented to the whole group, but still untouched.

“And you’ll promise not to drag my name through the press for those monsters?” Luke pressed.

Like it was nothing, Annabeth shrugged. “I promise I won’t volunteer anything, and I think Jason would agree not to bring it up to anyone outside of this room, either.”

“I will agree to that,” Jason said without hesitation.

“If, by some chance, someone else in the family finds out about it and decides to go forward with the story,” Annabeth continued, not missing a beat after Jason’s confirmation, “that’s out of my hands.”

Annabeth already knew the matter was out of her hands. She played Luke like a fiddle, weaving the truth into something she could use as a weapon, and he didn’t have the slightest clue. After all the years she’d spent suffering from the fallout of the way he’d manipulated her, this manipulation of Annabeth’s was much kinder than he probably deserved.

“You have your deal,” Luke agreed, wrinkling his nose at the food in front of him.

There was something oddly satisfying about his reluctance to eat and it inspired Piper to go ahead and take a few bites of her own food despite her lack of appetite. It seemed Annabeth had the same thought, because she finally cut into her appetizer as well. Taking their cues from the girls, Jason and Percy also decided to start in on their food, a wonderful little symbol of how effectively Luke’s ass had been kicked already.

Between the dainty bites Annabeth took, she said, “I guess that only leaves the message my father asked you to give me.”

Luke took a drink of his wine, finishing almost his entire glass in a few quick swallows. Annabeth continued to eat, looking at him with wide eyes from across the table, unbothered. Honestly, even Piper was amazed by how shrewd her best friend proved that evening, and felt a little bad for having doubted she was up for this.

“He wants to make you an offer,” Luke finally answered, seeming to have collected himself again. “Fredrick will reinstate your financial support and allow you to resume contact with your brothers. In return, he asks only that you _cease_ contact with your mother.”

All knives and forks froze at that delivery, the four who had started eating exchanging a series of curious glances. Annabeth, it seemed, had not been expecting that to be what Fredrick Chase wanted. Piper knew he hated Annabeth’s mom, she knew he was a spiteful little prick, and she had long stopped being surprised by the lengths he would go to just to get his way, but even she was still taken aback.

Annabeth set her cutlery down, placing her hands in her lap as she considered what Luke had just relayed. There was a victorious twinkle in his eye, like he was celebrating having finally been the one to catch her off balance. Piper thought that smug expression was a little presumptuous, though. Sure, Annabeth hadn’t been expecting what he told her, but the gears in her mind were already hard at work and Piper had faith the tables would be turning again in a matter of seconds.

In those seconds, waiting on the metaphorical edge of her seat, Piper realized what a mistake she’d made in not telling Annabeth everything that had happened with Jason’s dad right from the start. The most amazing person Piper had ever known had been right there for her to lean on and she hadn’t even picked up her phone to send an SOS text. Annabeth still saw no direct solutions, and she hadn’t been able to offer any answers even when Piper had made her confession the week before, but maybe that brilliant, sharp and creative mind would have seen another path. 

Except Annabeth had seen another path. _You’re not even giving him a chance_ , Annabeth had said, along with the near constant insistence Piper just tell Jason the truth. Without meaning to, Piper’s eyes landed on Jason. He was looking at Piper, too, and he held her gaze with a heart wrenching confidence. She looked away first, returning her attention to her food.

“You can tell my father three things,” Annabeth finally began, her voice amazingly even. “Firstly, my brothers are not bargaining chips, they’re people, people I care about. Yes, I want them back in my life, but I will not let him use them to manipulate me into doing what he wants, and I don’t think they’d want me to.

“Secondly,” Annabeth continued, barely even stopping to breathe between her points so as not to give Luke a chance to respond, “I don’t need his financial support, nor do I want it. Actually, I’ve been pretty happy without it the last several months. Accepting help from people who actually care about me, even though it does sting the ego a little, has been much more palatable than taking his money ever was.

“And lastly,” she concluded, maintaining her composure completely, “hell will freeze over before I cease contact with my mother at his request. She’s part of my life now and nothing he can say or do will change that.”

Luke seemed unimpressed by her response, but Piper certainly was. It had been delivered with so much confidence, no hesitation, even though it was undoubtedly difficult for Annabeth to turn down a chance to reunite with her brothers. To come all this way, take such a big risk, and have nothing come from it seemed almost too cruel. At least they’d managed to get Luke to promise he wouldn’t contact her again – though Piper wasn’t sure how meaningful that could be with his connection to Jason’s family and the fact Fredrick still seemed on friendly terms with him.

“That’s it, then?” Luke asked, cocking his head to one side.

Annabeth inhaled deeply through her nose, considering him. “No. Tell my father I’m willing to make a deal. I’ll resume playing my role as a dutiful daughter in public if he’ll lift whatever restrictions he’s put on the twins contacting me.”

“I thought they weren’t bargaining chips,” he replied, tone heavy with taunting sarcasm. That definitely would have earned him a fork in the thigh if he’d been seated next to Piper, and as it was it earned him a distasteful sneer from Jason, which might as well have been a stabbing.

“I’m bargaining for them, not _with_ them, there’s a difference,” Annabeth said, firm, but managing to hold back the worst of the anger Piper could sense brewing beneath her surface.

With a scoffed laugh, Luke sat up a little straighter in his seat. “If you say so, Annabeth. Since we’re done with our business, I’m not interested in staying to socialize.”

“I suppose I’ll be seeing you around,” Jason said, not looking up from his almost clean plate, a smile in his voice. If anyone else had been around or listening, they might have mistaken it for genuine sentiment, but he was laying the act on thick, openly mocking Luke.

“I suppose you will, _Uncle_ ,” Luke replied, matching Jason’s tone. Neither he nor Penelope bothered to say anything else. They stood, food completely untouched except for the wine Luke had chugged, and left.

She watched as the couple rounded the table and exited the private room, and then Annabeth burst into laughter. Both Piper and Percy sat stunned, amazed, but Jason joined Annabeth in laughing almost immediately. They laughed together, barely keeping a polite volume, until Annabeth brushed tears from her eyes and Jason gasped for air – and then they looked at each other and lost all their hard fought composure.

Only when the waiter came by with the table’s main courses did they manage to reign themselves in. Jason apologized that the other two had needed to leave so suddenly, but assured the waiter he would still be paying for their meals. Then he requested a round of beers for the table, a much more Jason-like choice of beverage. Percy opted out of the alcohol, though, asking instead for a glass of coke, which made the waiter wince. Piper and Annabeth were supposed to be avoiding alcohol as well, but desperate times called for desperate measures. They’d earned a little treat.

“So, that was actually kind of fucking awesome,” Percy said, appearing just as surprised as Piper felt in the wake of watching Annabeth and Jason set Luke off so effectively. “Honestly, I think it was better than punching him would have been.”

“It felt good,” Annabeth admitted, leaning closer to him now that they were surrounded only by friends. Percy smiled at her, shining again with admiration and love, and then he leaned in to kiss her.

The group stuck around to eat the rest of their meals. It wasn’t as awkward as Piper might have expected it to be. Avoiding talking directly with Jason proved easy enough. Most of their time was spent laying more praise on Annabeth for her impressive performance, which of course Annabeth insisted on waving off. She smiled a little in response to each compliment, though, betraying her own pride. Good, she deserved to be proud. She’d been amazing.

Easily the highlight of the night – at least the post-Luke portion – came when the check arrived and Percy pushed it shamelessly toward Jason, as if the outlandishly expensive bottle of wine hadn’t been a clear indicator Jason intended to pay the bill. They teased each other lightly over it, until finally Percy said, “Fine, I’ll pay!” and moved to grab the check. Jason snatched it out of Percy’s reach and they very well might have gotten into a physical altercation over it if Annabeth hadn’t jumped in to remind them they were in public and also not in kindergarten.

Piper had missed this, missed _them_. She saw Annabeth every day and Percy most, but it wasn’t the same as being together, the four of them. Thinking about how much she missed it hurt, but a small part of her hoped, one way or another, being the four of them might be possible again someday in the future – even if it was with her sitting on the opposite side of the table from Jason.

Out on the street, into the muggy heat of the late June evening, the group congregated by the front door to say goodbyes. Percy offered to run to get the car for them, since he’d parked several blocks away and Piper was in a pair of heels she wasn’t eager to do a ton of extra walking in at the end of her day. Since that would take several minutes, Annabeth decided she was going to sneak back into the restaurant to use the restroom. Like that, Piper found herself alone with Jason while he waited for his driver.

After watching Annabeth face Luke so fearlessly, being reminded just how brilliant her best friend was, Piper genuinely started reconsidering her resistance to being honest with Jason. Admitting it was not easy, but Piper did think Annabeth had been right. This would be the perfect opportunity to tell him, though not there on the street. She could ask him if he was up for getting a drink, maybe, assure him she just wanted to have a conversation. That conversation would likely be a lot for him to process, and she wouldn’t expect anything more from it or him than just the chance to finally tell the truth.

“How’s the job?” Jason finally asked, breaking the tense, unpleasant silence between them and interrupting her train of thought.

“Good,” Piper replied, not intending to be as short as she sounded. Quickly, she amended, “I like it, I think it’s going to be a good fit. Yours?”

“Hate it, but, well, we were expecting as much,” he answered with a shrug of his shoulders.

They were expecting as much, but that didn’t mean Piper liked the confirmation. Part of her had been holding out hope it might turn out better than they’d anticipated. “Still, sorry to hear it.”

Before she had a chance to make a decision or say anything else, Jason’s car arrived. He stepped forward immediately, then hesitated once he had the door open, looking back at Piper. In those lingering seconds she considered again asking him to wait, tried to imagine what it would look like if she took Annabeth’s advice and just told him everything she’d been holding back. His expression was hard to read, or maybe she the idea of reading it scared her – Piper was never entirely sure which it had been when she thought back on the moment later.

“See you in Rome, Pipes,” Jason finally said, and he slipped into the car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi guys! i'm dropping in today for a couple reasons.
> 
> first, uh, i can't believe this is chapter 100? that's actually insane to me. i mean, i wrote this chapter months ago, so obviously i've known it was coming, but still, publishing it is all kinds of wild. whether you've been reading since the beginning or you've decided to jump in recently, thanks for coming along on this roller coaster with me.
> 
> second, i do have a little (bad?) news. i've been keeping an every other day schedule for updating basically since i started, but moving forward that's going to have to change. this is mostly because i had a kind of crazy november and didn't get as much writing done as i would have liked.
> 
> from now on i'm going to be updating **mondays** and **fridays**! updates will still be regular, just a _little_ less often. this will give me proper time to draft and edit, so i can keep giving you guys chapters i'm proud of rather than rushing ahead and putting out anything i'm not confident in. this is sad for me too, tbh, but i've thought about it a lot and know it's the best decision.
> 
> i'll be around on [tumblr](https://couvers.tumblr.com/) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/waddled) if you have any questions! i'm also sometimes warming up to write with some little prompt ficlets now, which i post on tumblr but also link on twitter. i'll probably eventually compile them for conversations too!


	101. Chapter 101

“Hey, Beth, are you home?”

The words were much more ominous than they should have been, with just Percy’s head sticking in the front door of the apartment. She was, of course, home. Home was kind of her default state the last few weeks. At the moment she sat on the couch, with issues of _Architectural Digest_ and _Interior Design_ scattered around her, her sketchpad, and her iPad out as she worked on concept sketches for Jason’s room and, as they’d decided to expand the project, the full remodel they were doing of his en suite bathroom. Since he had insisted on paying her, Annabeth also insisted on putting serious time and effort into the work.

It was early afternoon, earlier than Percy would usually get back from training, but since they were leaving for Nationals in Omaha the next morning, Coach Hedge had planned on cutting things short so Percy could rest and pack. Piper was still at work, would be for a few hours longer. Annabeth had been excited about the prospect of a whole afternoon alone with Percy. Apparently that afternoon alone was going to be an interesting one.

“I am,” Annabeth answered, although Percy had already laid eyes on her and confirmed her presence.

Things only seemed more foreboding when Percy replied, “Okay, so, don’t be mad.”

“Why would I be mad?” Annabeth asked slowly, feeling like she should be much more worried about this whole thing than she actually was. Percy absolutely seemed suspicious, but she fought back a smile and already tingled with the excitement of anticipation. There was a distinct possibility she would be mad, but that possibility was half the fun.

Mad wasn’t exactly the word she would have used when Percy finally stepped through the door, carrying a very large cardboard box. There was nothing particularly shocking about a cardboard box in and of itself, which told Annabeth the contents of the box would be the issue. Percy set it at her feet and she understood his trepidation instantly – inside sat a tiny ball of gray fluff with matching silver eyes.

“His name is Bob,” Percy said, watching Annabeth’s reaction carefully, ruffling his hair with a hand. She wanted to comment that Bob was a stupid name for a kitten, but she held her tongue. “Coach and I found a whole litter of them outside the athletic center today, a few feet away from what we think was their mom. She’d been hit by a car. It was pretty ugly.”

“Where’s the rest of the litter?” Annabeth asked, keeping her tone and expression even – which was hard to do with those giant kitten eyes staring up at her, as if asking, _Am I not the cutest thing ever? Do you not want to pick me up and rub me all over your face?_

Percy’s eyes narrowed, remaining cautious. “Coach took the other three. His wife runs an animal rescue.”

“How do you know he’s a he?” she inquired, eyebrows furrowing. Cats, especially kittens, didn’t generally have any obvious differences. Annabeth knew there was a way to tell, of course, but she doubted Percy had the expertise.

“Coach checked,” he answered. “All four were boys. I liked Bob best, he’s the fluffiest.”

Staring at the fluff ball, who she was sure would grow into a very large cat based on how massive his paws and ears were in proportion to the rest of his body, Annabeth sighed. “And you want him to live here?”

“Well,” Percy started, ruffling his hair nervously again, “I figure I spend most of my time here. If I take him to the brownstone it’s basically dumping him on Hazel, not that I think she’d really mind.”

“We’re leaving for Omaha tomorrow, Percy,” she said, though the way she laughed in defeat and finally pushed all her work aside so she could reach down and pick up that little fluff gave away how very _un_ -mad she was. “Who’s going to take care of him for the next week while we’re gone? He’ll probably need to go to the vet before we get back. We’d need food, toys, a litter box, probably flea medicine. All that is assuming Piper is on board with us keeping him, too.”

Annabeth didn’t say she knew Piper would be completely on board. More or less since they moved into the apartment they’d been debating adopting a pet. Both of them had wanted one, but the time had never seemed quite right between school, vacations and internships. This was also not exactly an ideal time, with Percy and Annabeth about to leave for Nationals and a three week trip to Rome planned for the next month, but the kitten was already right there in Annabeth’s arms, and he was purring, and now she was in love, so that didn’t really seem to matter.

Part of Annabeth also thought a little kitten company might be good for Piper over the next week, something to keep her distracted, to make her days a little brighter, while she was left alone. Feeding the kitten could give her days a little extra structure, another creature worth getting out of bed for. Now, more than ever, Piper needed as much joy in her life as possible.

It was going to be the first time Annabeth and Piper had been apart in close to five full years, aside from nights here and there spent sleeping over at other places and Annabeth’s single night in San Francisco earlier that year. Annabeth hadn’t asked Piper about it, but she was already having a little separation anxiety and figured the feeling was mutual, even with the rocky state of their relationship. Time apart to cool down might be good for them, or it could just make things worse, drive the wedge between them deeper.

In Omaha, Annabeth would have Percy to keep her occupied, along with all the excitement that would naturally come along with attending an athletic competition of National proportions. Piper would be mostly alone. Will was still in Malibu, and while Piper had other casual friends she could do things with, Annabeth knew it wasn’t the same. Those people didn’t know about, let alone understand, Piper’s nightmares. They didn’t know the truth about Piper’s break up with Jason or the complications that had led up to it, making it that much more difficult to move past. Spending time with them would entertain her and give her some companionship, but not the same level of emotional support Annabeth was able to provide.

A kitten couldn’t provide that kind of support, either, but that little purr motor undoubtedly had a unique kind of healing magic.

“You’re not mad, though,” Percy observed, his guarded expression beginning to morph into a smile.

“I’m mad you named him _Bob_ , yeah,” Annabeth replied, rolling her eyes at Percy as the kitten tried to wiggle out of her arms, “but no. That doesn’t change any of the points I made.”

His smile continued to grow. “I’ll go get the things we need right now. Coach gave me a list!”

“And taking care of him the next week?”

“If Piper isn’t up to it, I’ll ask Hazel,” he replied with a shrug. “And if Hazel isn’t, I’ll ask Jason, or my mom. I’m sure someone can handle him for a week.”

Bob – oh God, she was already even calling him that dumb name in her head – had rolled onto his back on her lap, his short kitten legs grabbing at her hand, tiny claws scratching at her skin as he gnawed on her fingers in what she assumed was his best attempt to be ferocious. The subtle sting only made love swell in her heart. “I guess you’ll have to stay, won’t you?” Annabeth asked the kitten, shaking her hand and getting more tickling scratches and bites in return.

“Really?” Percy asked, his smile becoming so broad it made Annabeth’s chest ache with matching happiness.

Heaving a heavy sigh, Annabeth nodded. “As long as Piper is okay with it.”

Approval earned Annabeth quite a kiss from Percy, and when he straightened up she was giggling and giddy. As he promised, Percy rushed back out the door to get everything they would need for Bob’s care, leaving Annabeth there with a very restless kitten. Soon Bob was crawling all around the couch, tentatively exploring his new environment and rubbing himself against her to leave his mark on his new human. This was not how she had anticipated her afternoon going, but also better than anything she could have dreamed up.

Maybe she should have been mad, upset that Percy had just brought the little guy home without so much as calling ahead, but she couldn’t be. Instead she abandoned her work to chase after Bob with her hands so he’d continue to attack them, laughing as he burrowed himself into the blanket to hide and pounce her. There was a reason she couldn’t be mad – whenever she and Piper had thought about getting a pet, Annabeth had talked them both out of it by over analyzing everything. Percy’s slightly reckless spontaneity had given her yet another thing she’d always wanted but been too afraid to go for on her own, even if it had also given Bob the stupidest name in the history of cats.

Considering the week she’d had, from the meltdown she’d only barely staved off when Piper had hit Dylan, to the anxiety she’d fought off, to dinner with Luke and Penelope, Annabeth had also certainly needed something pure and good to make her smile. 

She still wasn’t sure whether her dad would accept her terms, and part of her wondered if she’d really be up to resuming her former role playing at a happy family after everything that had transpired the last six months. That family image Fredrick Chase so desperately projected seemed even more contrived and forced than ever. His continued association with Luke also made her want to scream, and she had a feeling he would only keep thinking the worst of her at every turn.

Annabeth worried, too, about Percy. She could deal with her dad saying shit to and about her. If he turned that vitriol on Percy the way he had started to in February, she wouldn’t be able to just sit back and take it. That was a problem for another day, though.

When Bob had tired himself out he curled up on Annabeth’s chest for warmth and she settled back in with her tablet. Working with a kitten in her way wasn’t easy, and for such a small creature he generated a hell of a lot of heat, but she was still wearing a smile when the door opened again and Percy returned with a box balanced on one shoulder and a few bags of kitten supplies in his other hand. Bob didn’t budge an inch.

“You know you still need to pack, right?” Annabeth asked, listening to the rustling of bags and the tearing of cardboard as Percy unpacked his purchases on the dining table. All he did was grunt in acknowledgment and she sighed. Most of her packing was already finished, but Percy hadn’t even started. The longer he waited to pack, the more likely it became he would forget something, the more likely she’d be the one having to run to the store in Omaha to pick up what he needed.

Percy continued to work on his kitten prep project in silence, Annabeth finally turning her head to see he was putting together a scratching post. Only taking a quick glance, she almost missed the strange look on his face. As soon as she registered it, though, she set her iPad aside and scooped Bob into her arms so she could get up. The kitten snuggled in, but didn’t rouse.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, voice gentle, as she came up beside him in the kitchen. 

On closer inspection, the item he had been putting together wasn’t just a simple scratching post. The image on the front of the box showed two posts screwed into a flat base with a cloth hammock to hang between them. Percy made quick work of it all the same. Over the months Annabeth had discovered just how handy Percy could be and he’d told her, whispered one night while they were curled up in bed talking until they fell asleep, about learning to fix things around the house to help his mom when he’d been young. She doubted such a simple and straightforward project would be able to inspire such a frustrated grimace.

Flashing her a halfhearted smile, Percy shook his head. “Nothing. I’m fine.”

“You were practically skipping out the door when you left. Did something happen while you were out?” she pressed. When he shook his head, she swallowed her pride and said, “I didn’t mean to be naggy about packing. I’m sorry.”

The hint of a smile that apology inspired at least didn’t seem forced. “It’s not about that, either.”

“Then you admit it’s something?” she asked, tentative. After just apologizing for nagging, it seemed a little on the nose to turn around and nag him about this, but she was concerned.

“Yeah, it’s something, but… I don’t know,” he replied, shaking his head and turning his full attention back to getting the little hammock secured in place.

Annabeth considered what she already knew about the situation – Percy said nothing had happened on his run to the store, that it wasn’t her nagging bothering him, and yet it seemed to have been inspired when she mentioned him needing to pack, on top of the fact he’d been avoiding talking much about their plans the closer they got to leaving. 

“Are you nervous about this week, about swimming?” she asked, frowning at the realization.

“Not about swimming. My times have been good in practice. I know I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” Percy replied, the frown he wore deepening even as he put the finishing touches on his project.

With the structure complete and secure, Annabeth deposited Bob into the hammock. He blinked his eyes open lazily, stretched for a few seconds, turned in a circle twice, and then settled himself back into a ball to sleep some more, apparently pleased with what Percy had prepared for him. 

Even with whatever was bothering Percy, when Annabeth looked back at his face, she found him grinning in appreciation of the adorable display, and probably pride over his work receiving the kitten seal of approval. There really never was a chance of Bob being something Annabeth could be mad about, not when the kitten so clearly made Percy happy. If he made a habit of bringing home stray animals, they might have a problem, but she would let this one slide.

Arms now free, Annabeth slipped them around Percy’s waist and pressed herself against his side. “Talk to me, please?”

Percy stared down at the kitten in silence for a minute, resting his hands over Annabeth’s arms as he considered what he wanted to say. “I just keep thinking it might be better if you stayed back, didn’t go with me this week.”

“What?” she asked, pulling back. “You don’t want me there?”

“Of course I want you there,” he said quickly, turning to slip his arms around her and keep her from retreating too far. “I just keep thinking about how Piper is going to be all alone here. She needs you right now, probably more than I do.”

That explanation thankfully did a little to soothe the sting of his initial comment, but she still wasn’t entirely satisfied by it. “ _You’re_ going to be alone if I don’t go,” she reminded him. Percy had already insisted his parents not go with him, though Annabeth still didn’t understand why he’d been so adamant about it when Sally made her own hours and Paul was out of school for the summer already. It wasn’t like either of them would have to miss work or adjust their schedules.

“I won’t be alone,” Percy insisted. “Coach and his family going to be there, and a few other people from the team qualified to compete. I went by myself last year, too. I’m a big boy, I can handle myself alone for a week.”

He had a good point – he was a big boy, perfectly capable of handling himself on his own in Omaha – but that point also applied the other way around. “Piper can handle herself alone for a week, too,” Annabeth replied, trying to sound more confident about that fact than she felt. Her doubts about Piper’s ability to take care of herself were more about Annabeth’s own protectiveness than Piper’s actual competency. “She is four days older than you, you know.”

“You know that’s not the point I’m making,” Percy said, his eyes narrowing even as a smile started tugging at his lips again. “It’s been a rough month for her.”

“She would be furious with _both_ of us if I stayed behind,” Annabeth said, something she had absolutely no doubts about. “And my going with you isn’t just about you. After this week you’ll leave for Atlanta to train with the team and I’m not going to see you again until Rome. Spending this week with you is important to _me._ ”

“Assuming I make the team,” he insisted.

Annabeth glared at him. “Next time you say that I’m actually going to toss you out a window.”

Her threat had that hint of a smile on his face growing more prominent. “Are you sure about going?”

“I’m sure, Percy. I can’t wait to watch you own that pool this week. In person,” Annabeth told him, grinning at just the thought of it. For months she’d been looking forward to this moment and she very well might have gone along even if Percy had insisted she stay.

“You do like to watch,” he teased, pressing her hard against the table and leaning down to catch her lips.

A laugh sounded in the back of her throat, and for a few seconds she was smiling too wide to properly kiss him. Percy did not give up, though, and soon she was melting into him properly. Whatever apprehension he felt about their trip seemed all but forgotten and she hoped it would stay that way. Her fingers slid into his hair, tangled in his wavy locks. When his hands began to slip up from her hips, under her t-shirt, she broke away.

“Keep it PG in front of our son, please,” she whispered, her lips brushing against his.

Percy smiled, nudging her nose with his. “Our son, huh?”

“Our son,” she repeated, her tone deceptively playful.

His smile lasted only a few more seconds, because then he was kissing her again, with more purpose and fire. Percy bent down, his hands slipping behind her thighs. Lifting her up, wrapping her legs around him, he gave himself a few seconds to get a proper hold on her while she laughed into their kiss. Then he stepped away from the table, headed down the hall.

“You need to _pack_ ,” Annabeth reminded him against his lips, but she was clinging to him, not willing to let him go as they stumbled past her bedroom door.

When he’d dropped Annabeth on her bed and climbed in after, Percy grinned. “I’ll pack later.”


	102. Chapter 102

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dropping in to preface this chapter by saying someone gets sick in it! i understand that can be a difficult thing to read about at the moment, so i thought i'd drop a little warning here. ♥

_See you in Rome, Pipes._

The words haunted her, repeated themselves in her mind both when she most and least expected them – in the middle of proof reading a press release at work, late at night when she was tossing and turning in bed, while she was blending herself a smoothie after her morning jog, as hot water poured over her in the shower, when she was popping open a can of food for Bob.

Coming home from work Friday night to discover they had rescued a kitten had at least been a wonderful surprise. He was the most perfect ball of gray fluff Piper had ever laid eyes on and there hadn’t been an ounce of hesitation in her when she’d assured Percy and Annabeth that she was completely happy about keeping him and fully alright with being his primary caretaker while the two of them were in Omaha. She didn’t tell them she was a little relieved she wouldn’t be alone the whole week, even if her company would be a kitten with deathly sharp claws and a propensity for biting that Annabeth seemed to be _encouraging_ when they played that first evening.

Seeing the two of them off the next morning was more difficult than Piper could admit. She wasn’t used to being alone for extended periods. In fact, she couldn’t remember any time she’d ever been alone for more than a day or two. Someone else had always been around, usually Annabeth, though even over summers in Malibu growing up she’d at least kind of had her dad around, along with the household staff.

Over the weekend, she didn’t even have her work to distract her. She no longer had homework to fill her time, like there might have been when she was in school. Saturday night she thought about going out. Piper had friends she could call, and they lived in New York, the greatest city in the world, but she had no desire to leave the couch. The friends she could call weren’t the ones she wanted to be spending her Saturday night with. Instead she curled up with the kitten, turned on some sappy old movies, and ordered herself a pizza.

Sunday came with a couple small respites from Piper’s loneliness – the first being her weekly call from her dad, something they’d decided to start doing after her last trip home, and the second being her visit to the gym for her recently resumed boxing lessons with Dakota.

“A kitten?” Tristan asked, as Piper lounged on the couch late Sunday morning, taunting said kitten with a catnip filled fish on the end of a wand toy.

“I won’t let him scratch up the door frames or anything, don’t worry,” Piper assured her dad, laughing as Bob jumped after the fish and somehow managed to do a full three-sixty with his tiny body in the air.

Even though he couldn’t see Bob, Tristan laughed, too. “I’m not worried about the door frames, just surprised. Didn’t peg you as a cat person, Pipes.”

_See you in Rome, Pipes._

So much for the distraction of her phone call.

When Piper and Jason had first started dating he’d called her _Pipes_ almost too easily, too naturally. A few other people had tried to call her by that nickname over the years, but she’d always asked them not to. It was what her dad called her and Piper’s relationship with her father had been much too complicated for her to be able to deal with hearing that nickname from anyone else, let alone regularly. Jason had said it so affectionately, though, sugar spun to sound on his lips. She hadn’t been able to ask him not to use it, and soon she’d fallen entirely too in love with his voice calling her the one thing she’d always run so readily from.

The fact that he’d used it Wednesday night, when she’d thought she would never hear it from him again, had caught her off guard more than anything else during the entirety of that crazy dinner.

“You okay?” her dad asked on the other end of the line, after several seconds of silence.

“Yeah,” she lied, shaking her head and flinging the fish for Bob as she focused back on the present. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

 _Fine_ was probably the wrong word, considering a couple hours later she went so hard on the punching bag that Dakota had to call her off before she accidentally hurt herself. Piper’s arms burned, her lungs ached as they fought for oxygen, and it felt so wonderful she wished she could live her entire life just beating that bag. Boxing was different than going for morning jogs or doing a half hour of yoga in the evening. It demanded the entirety of both her body and mind, and while losing herself in the physicality had been a relief before, even fun in a way, since restarting her lessons with Dakota, Piper had significantly more anger to release than ever.

Some of that anger was more prominent there with Dakota. Piper still didn’t understand why he and Reyna had welcomed her back so readily, why they were acting as if nothing had changed in the last month. On her first visit to the gym, Reyna had told Piper that Dakota would like her more because Jove _didn’t_ like her – but that begged the question of how much Reyna and Dakota could know about Piper’s break up with Jason. If they knew enough to discern it had been Jason’s dad who pushed her to end things, Jason had to know something of it, too.

“Maybe we should call it a day early this time,” Dakota offered, once Piper had caught her breath and wiped away the sweat dripping from her brow.

Piper shook her head, raising her fists. “I’m fine,” she lied again, then followed it up with a truth, “I want to keep going.”

Dakota’s eyes were usually glazed, distant and cloudy, but they shone with a hint of excitement. “Gearing up for a fight?”

“Should I be?” she asked, trying to keep her tone light, playful, not betraying how lost in thought about a very real battle she had been all evening. 

Dakota was probably just teasing her about punching Dylan, something he’d done a lot of in their session the Sunday before. If not that, she figured he was gauging her interest in punching something, someone, who wasn’t a bag or his hands with heavy pads. She doubted he thought she was ready for a real fight, but there were a few others at the gym close to her level and probably available for sparring.

If Dakota had an idea of what Piper was facing, though, and if Jason had figured it out, too, the fight he was talking about could be the very same one haunting her.

_See you in Rome, Pipes._

“Never a bad idea to be prepared,” Dakota replied with a noncommittal shrug, then gave Piper the signal to start in on the punching bag again. She took her first swing and didn’t stop until she’d long cleared her mind of those taunting words.

That night Piper curled up on the couch again, though this time it was to turn on coverage of Percy’s first two races – the 400 meter freestyle and the 400 meter medley. He’d qualified for the finals in both, taking first in his earlier heats, but they were his weakest events and some of his competition had bested his times in their qualifiers. These were things Piper had learned in text updates from Annabeth earlier in the day, since only the final races in the evenings were being broadcast on TV.

Once, as the camera panned over the crowd, Piper spotted Annabeth and smiled. Annabeth had a small banner with Percy’s name on it in her hands and was waving it from her seat, cheering along with all the other spectators. Beside her was a woman in her mid-thirties holding a bushy haired baby, and jumping around both of them were two children, aged three and six. Piper knew who they all were – Mellie, Percy’s coach’s wife, and their three kids. It was a very small turnout for Percy, especially compared to the army that intended to follow him to the Olympics, but they were doing a good job representing Team Jackson (there were t-shirts and hats with those words printed on them already ordered for next month, even though Percy had explicitly told Piper not to get them).

It surprised Piper how anxious she became each time Percy climbed onto the block. The feeling was more intense than when they’d gone to his meet months before, both because this race held much more significance, but also, she figured, because her love for Percy had grown so exponentially since then. Part of her heart was there on the block with him, ready to drop along with the buzzer that signaled the race’s start.

Piper tried to remind herself these weren’t Percy’s strongest events to stave off her anxiety. If he didn’t do well, it wasn’t the end of the line. Later in the week he’d swim the 800, and then the 1500 over the following weekend. Both were events he held the title in, and much more important to him personally.

In the end, her anxiety proved unnecessary. Percy took second in the 400 medley, looking pretty pleased with himself when he hit the wall and checked the leader board to see how he’d done. After then taking first in the 400 free a little while later, the event he’d done worst in the year before, he looked almost like he couldn’t believe it. Piper found herself laughing as she observed the disbelief on his face – the announcers clarified why it was so profound, Percy had just broken both a personal and national record in the event – and wished she could have been there to see how Annabeth reacted too. Glowing, Piper decided. Wherever Annabeth sat in the stands, she was glowing with pride.

It didn’t hit her until a few hours later, as she was getting herself ready for bed, what Percy’s performance that evening meant. He had done it. Percy had qualified for the Olympics. They were going. For sure. For real.

_See you in Rome, Pipes._

Well. Shit.

“How’s that swimmer friend of yours doing?” one of the interns at work, a blonde haired and energetic girl named Lacy, asked Piper over tea and coffee in the break room on Monday. Tea for Piper, because she was still on her strict anti-nightmare regimen. Coffee for Lacy, because, despite being one of the peppiest people Piper had ever encountered, she apparently needed a steady stream of caffeine.

A pleasant warmth spread in Piper’s chest over Lacy remembering and thinking to ask even though Piper had only mentioned Percy in passing a couple times to any of her coworkers. “Really great. He qualified for the Olympics in both the events he swam yesterday.”

“That’s so _cool_ ,” Lacy said, and then went into a long spiel about swimsuit fabrics and current trends. 

Of all the interns, Lacy was definitely Piper’s favorite, but it was clear from talking to her that she had much more interest in fashion than PR, not that the two things couldn’t be related. After the summer internship ended, Piper probably wouldn’t ever see Lacy again, but breaks together like that one were certainly making the first few weeks on the job more pleasant.

Break over, Piper went to the counter to refill her tea when she felt that pinch in her sinuses that signaled an impending sneeze. She braced herself, face tucked into her elbow, and let out a quick string of, “Achoo!” three times. They were painfully forceful and she stood staring at the coffee maker in a daze for a few seconds while she regained her composure.

“Bless you,” Lacy chimed on her way out the break room door. “Someone must be thinking pretty hard about you.”

“I doubt it,” Piper replied lightly, filling herself another cup from the electric kettle. Telling Lacy that, telling _herself_ that, didn’t stop her mind from going rouge again.

_See you in Rome, Pipes._

Her sneezing continued, so that ruled out Jason thinking about her, unless he was thinking about her every twenty minutes. Considering she was now thinking about _him_ every twenty minutes, maybe that wasn’t impossible, even if it was her sneezes making her think about him. Maybe he was sneezing every twenty minutes now, too, when she thought of him, and his sneezes were making him think about her. This was not what she was supposed to be thinking about in the middle of the workday. Worse, those thoughts should have made absolutely no sense to her, yet they seemed completely logical.

Lacy had managed to drive Piper absolutely insane with a single, offhand comment, and Annabeth had only been gone for three days.

Over the course of the rest of Piper’s afternoon, the sneezing turned into an uncomfortable pressure behind her eyes. The uncomfortable pressure made Piper feel groggy, hazy. Soon it had spread to the rest of her body, making her neck ache, her back sore, even her legs feel heavy. Just walking the two blocks from her office to her bus stop had Piper so exhausted she wanted to collapse on a bench and sleep for ten years. These were all very bad signs, but Piper refused to admit she was getting sick.

Allergy medicine. That was what Piper needed, even though she’d never had allergies in her life. Her forehead pressed against the bus window as she watched the world pass by, Piper resolved herself to stop at the pharmacy on the way home for some allergy medicine.

Piper didn’t get sick. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been sicker than having the sniffles or a cough for a few days, unless it was something like puking from drinking too much (which she’d done) or really bad PMS (which was also rare thanks to the modern miracle of birth control). Plus, it was summer. People didn’t get sick in the summer. Colds and sinus infections were for the middle of winter, not late June. The only explanation was newly developed allergies.

By the time she got to the pharmacy, the pain behind her eyes had grown so intense she could barely keep them open. A chill had also started to take root in her, goosebumps springing up on Piper’s bare arms even in the muggy air outside. Stepping into the overly air conditioned store only made that chill worse. The sleeveless blouse she wore had seemed like a good idea that morning, after looking at the weather forecast and seeing the high predicted to be in the eighties. Now she was regretting not bringing a jacket with her to work.

Shivering, struggling more with every passing second to focus, Piper managed to find the allergy medicine. Faced with the ridiculously large selection of different medicines, brands and dosages, she had no idea what to select. She considered calling Annabeth to ask for help, because Annabeth would know, except Annabeth would probably tell her it wasn’t allergies and Piper didn’t need anyone telling her she was sick, not even Annabeth.

No way was Piper going to let her dumb best friend be right about something again.

Maybe it was the throbbing pain in Piper’s entire face – God, even her _teeth_ hurt – but for the first time, as she stared blankly at the mind boggling selection of over the counter allergy medications, she fully admitted to herself that Annabeth had been right. Piper hadn’t been fair to Jason. She’d been afraid and she’d let that fear control her. Succumbing to fear might have been acceptable if it had only been the file Piper had been afraid of, but the more time passed, the more she realized she’d let her insecurities get the better of her, taint her judgment.

She’d made her choice so she wouldn’t have to face the potential pain of Jason’s choice, and, in the process, robbed him of the chance to prove her own stupid mind wrong.

_See you in Rome, Pipes._

Piper groaned audibly, not really caring who in the pharmacy might have over heard the childish display, as she stomped out of the aisle for allergy medicines and onto the one for cold medicines to grab a combo box of DayQuil and NyQuil. Stupid Annabeth was right – about Jason, about the file, and about Piper being sick. She did not stop to consider she hadn’t _actually_ called Annabeth about the medicine, and that Annabeth hadn’t _actually_ said anything about her being sick. The fever was already doing a number on her mind.

It was quite possible she was reading too much into those five simple words, that her days of agonizing over them had simply left her desperate for an answer that didn’t exist, but there was one truth she’d learned about Jason early – he never said anything off hand, without thought and intent. He had been telling her something Thursday night. Even without her being honest about what his father had done, even without knowing she hadn’t just given up on him, Jason wasn’t giving up her.

Bob started mewing at the top of his itsy bitsy lungs the instant she got home, rubbing on Piper’s legs with much more force than his tiny body should have been capable of. Piper carefully dodged the kitten as she kicked off her shoes and let out a sigh of relief. Even though she was starting to feel dizzy and she was shaking so hard she could barely handle the pull tab on the can of cat food, she made sure he got his dinner before she stopped to take some of that NyQuil along with an entire bottle of water.

All the rest of her energy went into stripping off her work clothes and pulling on a sweater. She didn’t even bother washing her face or brushing her teeth, as gross as that was, before she crawled into bed. The kitten joined her after his meal, curling into a ball on one of her pillows and burrowing down. She smiled at him blearily, running her hand over his fuzzy gray fur a few times and laughing when he didn’t budge, just started to purr contentedly. 

“What do you think, Bob? Am I just a desperate fool?” she asked, inching closer to him, the cold medicine already making her lids heavy. Piper, of course, didn’t expect the kitten to answer, but she stared at him for a few minutes as if waiting for it anyway. Whether it was the cold medicine or the subtle, soothing sound of Bob’s continued purring, Piper fell asleep with a single thought on her mind.

_See you in Rome, Jason._


	103. Chapter 103

“I’m _sick_.”

They were the two most pitiful words Annabeth had ever heard in her life. Piper’s voice on the other end of the line was croaky and stuffed, full of misery. Annabeth could perfectly picture the way Piper’s bottom lip undoubtedly turned out in a pout, the slump of her shoulders and how round her eyes must have been, sparkling from the sheen of tears. Just the image was enough to make Annabeth half want to jump on a flight home that instant for the simple sake of getting Piper a cup of tea and tucking her into bed.

“Are you going in to work?” Annabeth asked as she slipped her own shoes on. It was just past six in Omaha, a little after seven in New York, which meant Piper wasn’t necessarily running late regardless of the answer.

“No, not today,” Piper replied with a groan. The stuffiness made her words clip in strange ways, syllables not properly pronounced. Piper’s usual, whiny tone achieved a new, ridiculous extreme. “I texted my manager and she said to keep whatever I have at home. She’s going to have one of the interns e-mail me whatever I can do from here.” 

Annabeth hummed in appreciation, thankful Piper at least wouldn’t have to brave navigating the city and juggling work in the office on top of being alone while mind addled from a fever and feeling so generally horrible. “Do you need anything? You have Hazel’s number, right? I’m sure she wouldn’t mind running by the store for you and dropping in.”

Piper sniffled loudly from the other end of the phone, the sound painful just to hear. “I think I’m alright for now. What’s on your agenda?”

“Percy doesn’t have any races today, but we’re going to head down to the arena anyway to watch some of the others,” Annabeth answered, a smile pulling at her lips as the swimmer in question stepped out of the hotel bathroom, in only a pair of jeans, hair wet from the shower he’d just finished. 

When Percy had come first in the 400 meter freestyle that Sunday, and broken a national record in the process, Annabeth’s heart had almost burst with pride. A lifetime of hard work had already paid off, securing Percy a place on the Olympic team, and his better events were still ahead. On Wednesday he would have his qualifying heat for the 800 meter freestyle, then the final race in that event the night after. The 1500 was scheduled for the weekend, the final event of the entire competition. All of it had Annabeth buzzing with pride, excitement and anticipation. If her feelings were so intense while watching him win on the national stage, Annabeth wasn’t sure she could even prepare for what it would be like the next month when Percy kicked international ass instead.

On top of the immense, almost overwhelming, pride Annabeth felt, was the fact that victory proved _extremely_ sexy on Percy. If anyone started to praise him for his success, he would wave them off, but Annabeth had seen the glint in his eyes after the win on Sunday. He’d walked out of the CHI Health Center with his head held high and a marked swagger in his step. Back at the hotel that night he’d also been very eager to celebrate. And again several times Monday. And once already that Tuesday morning. Honestly, Annabeth was a little sore and a lot tired, but Percy would be leaving to train with the rest of Team USA almost as soon as Nationals were over and she wanted as much of him as she could get before then.

“Are you even listening to me?” Piper asked, and even with the miserable sound of her congested sinuses, Annabeth could tell she was teasing, probably smiling.

“Yes,” Annabeth lied instinctively, her voice going up an octave in defensiveness – and then she realized she had probably missed something Piper had said and decided to be honest. “No, sorry. I spaced out for a second.”

Piper groaned again. “Oh my God, can you stop being horny for like two seconds? I’m sick! I could be _dying_ and you’re ignoring me to drool over Percy?”

“You’re not dying, Piper, you have a cold,” Annabeth said with a roll of her eyes. 

That caught Percy’s attention and the smile he’d been wearing in response to the way Annabeth was very obviously checking him out instantly morphed into a concerned frown. “Piper’s sick?”

“I think I’m dying, like, seriously,” Piper repeated with another pitiful, dramatic sniffle. Annabeth really was conflicted by the simultaneous desires to fly back to New York to nurse her best friend back to health and to hang the phone up so she could jump Percy’s bones. Life was hard.

Heaving a heavy sigh, Annabeth spoke to Piper and Percy at once. “It’s just a cold, a sinus infection at worst. Give it a day or two, get plenty of sleep and fluids, and it’ll blow over.”

Percy did not look satisfied with this explanation, his frown remaining and his brow beginning to furrow, and instantly he was tapping away at his own phone. Likewise, Piper was unsatisfied, because she continued to whine. “You’re going to regret saying that at my funeral.”

“This is like the most chipper you’ve been in weeks, Piper,” Annabeth told her flatly. “If this is you dying, I think I’ll take it.”

For a few seconds Piper didn’t respond, and Annabeth wondered if there was some reason for what seemed like a genuinely improved mood despite the illness. “It’s Bob. He has magical healing properties,” Piper finally said, and then sniffled again.

“Well, then you’re not going to die, are you?” Annabeth asked, smiling not because she’d clearly won this argument, but because their surprise kitten had apparently come at the perfect time. She wasn’t convinced Bob was the real reason for Piper’s returning pep, and didn’t want to jinx it by pushing too much on the subject, but it still made her happy to hear he could help keep Piper’s spirits up one way or another.

“Why do you always have to be right?” Piper replied, and even through the stuffiness Annabeth could hear the whiny sarcasm in Piper’s voice.

Annabeth laughed. “Being right all the time is my calling in life.”

“Whatever, I’m hanging up now,” Piper said, not a hint of malice in her voice. “Love you.”

“Love you, too,” Annabeth replied, feeling the ache of protectiveness that made her want to rush back home one last time as the line cut out. Piper was a grown up, Annabeth reminded herself, and perfectly capable of handling her own illness. Hopefully if Piper started feeling too bad, she’d take Annabeth’s advice and give Hazel a call.

Having finally put his shirt on, Percy came over to the desk chair where Annabeth was seated and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Don’t worry. I texted Mom. She’s going to swing by and check on Piper this afternoon.”

“What?” she replied, looking up at Percy and blinking. “Really?”

He nodded, laughing. “She’s already looking up veggie noodle soup recipes.”

There were several things that went through Annabeth’s mind, but one thought stood out more importantly than all the rest. “Thank you,” she told him softly, tugging on the hem of his shirt to urge him down so she could kiss him properly. Percy got the message, and he seemed very happy to receive her reiterated thanks in the form of her lips on his.

With a busy day ahead, they didn’t let themselves get distracted by that kiss, as much as Annabeth wished she could. Instead, they hurried down to the restaurant to take advantage of the breakfast bar included with their room package. 

At eight in the morning the place was already bustling, packed with swimmers, their families, and other swimming enthusiasts who’d come to town as spectators for the competition. Before Percy had even decided to compete, Sally had booked Percy’s room at the hotel just in case. Connected to the arena where Nationals were held, staying there made coming and going throughout the day no trouble at all. Sally Jackson was truly the most amazing, competent and thoughtful woman Annabeth had ever known. Annabeth would never be able to articulate how much better she felt knowing Sally would be checking on Piper that afternoon.

She let Percy take the lead in selecting a table for them, as he spotted a couple of the guys he’d been swimming and competing with in the same college division over his years at NYU. They chatted away while they ate, each of them putting away enough food for at least three people. Soon they were joined by more familiar faces. Percy wasn’t the only one on the NYU team who’d qualified to compete at the Olympic Trials, though he would likely be the only one on Team USA at the end of the week. Coach Hedge and his family were also somewhere in the very same hotel, but they were late risers whenever Coach didn’t have to be present for an early event. Annabeth figured three kids would make anyone a late riser.

Percy getting along so well with so many people didn’t really surprise Annabeth. While she mostly stayed off to the side of the conversation, she enjoyed watching him talk to his peers about the sport they all loved so much. They discussed the races that had already finished over the first two nights of competition, and speculated about events happening that morning and evening, listing off names of other swimmers, some of which Annabeth recognized and some she’d never heard. Before long the discussion turned to international competition, what they’d heard about the swim programs of other countries ahead of the Olympic Games.

“You’re not going to chicken out this time, right, Jackson?” one of the guys asked, pointing a fork at Percy. The tone was playful enough, and the two of them familiar enough, that Annabeth didn’t feel defensive in response to the question. Percy’s grin made her think he wasn’t offended, either. “There’s no way we’re getting any long distance medals without you.”

“Not this time,” Percy confirmed, flashing his teeth in a smile and then stuffing an entire syrup soaked pancake in his mouth. Meals were the only time of day Annabeth could say with confidence she did not find the love of her life attractive. Except she did and she hated it.

After breakfast they made their way to the arena. The morning session was less than an hour from starting, but the place already swarmed with activity. Since the morning heats were all preliminary, Annabeth had expected they wouldn’t draw crowds. It was true that the mornings weren’t as packed and crazy as the evenings, when cameras would come out to broadcast the competition nation wide, but the sheer number of people had still blown Annabeth away their first day.

Over a thousand swimmers had qualified to compete in various events over the course of the eight day meet. Most of them wouldn’t even swim in the final heats of this competition, and probably less than fifty would make the cut to go on to Rome. That was another thing Annabeth had been shocked by. Even as she and Percy made their way through the crowds, dodging families and school teams there to watch the third day of swimming begin, she couldn’t help staring at him with a new found reverence. A thousand hopefuls, and Percy was the best of them.

 _Her_ Percy. The same Percy who’d taken her breath away on sight. Percy, who had showed up at her apartment with a _Pizza Offering_ after getting punched at Piper and Jason’s party. Percy, who had carried her through seeing Luke for the first time in nearly five years, on their first date and without any warning. Percy, who’d kissed Jason to get her and Piper to go on the most thoughtful double date ever. Percy, who had sung her cheesy love songs in front of all their friends at karaoke, and done so horribly. Percy, who killed spiders for her. Percy, who made her eggs and bacon at every opportunity because he was jealous of a cartoon character. Percy, who named his car Bessie and their kitten Bob. Percy, who drooled puddles in his sleep, had no idea how to clean up after himself, and was terrified to fly.

From the very beginning he’d seemed so real and genuine to her. Those things hadn’t changed, and Annabeth didn’t think they ever would, but now, just a little, he also seemed larger than life. She found it hard to believe that this person, who could be in the same breath so very real and so very unreal, had chosen her. Percy chose her once from a distance, and again when she’d been absolutely obnoxious, and again every day since then.

“Hey,” Annabeth said, tugging on Percy’s hand so he’d look at her as they walked. When he looked at her with eyebrows raised, she grinned, not caring at all about sounding cheesy out of the blue. “I love you.”

The smile those three words brought to his face was so rewarding it filled her with an overflowing warmth and she never really got tired of saying them. “What brought that on?”

Annabeth shrugged, even though she knew full well where it had come from. He looked skeptical, but didn’t push her for any further explanation. Instead he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pressed a kiss to the side of her head. 

“I’m going to get a bottle of water. Do you want anything?” she asked, slipping out of his hold again as they approached the entrance to their seating section.

Asking had been more or less pointless because she answered in unison with him. “A Coke, please.”

“You’re rude,” Percy replied, though his smile had only grown wider, and he gave her a playful shove in the direction of the concession stand already open and serving spectators.

While Percy headed in to their seats, Annabeth took a spot in line. Considering the concession stand sold mostly things like chili dogs, nachos and popcorn, it surprised her how busy they were so early in the morning. She was mildly horrified to see a kid walk away from the counter with a heaping pile of pink cotton candy, but tried to remind herself that she was not a parent and it was not her place to judge the consumption of that much sugar before nine in the morning. The stadium sized cup of Coke she was about to buy for her boyfriend probably had about the same sugar content, anyway, plus way more caffeine than anyone needed.

She almost didn’t notice. There were so many people around, so many distractions, that she wasn’t even paying attention to what was happening behind her because there was so much going on in front of her. A kid screamed and made her jump, so she turned to look – thankfully it didn’t seem serious, as far as she could tell, just one of those weird, random screams toddlers often let out over small, inconsequential irritations. With a bittersweet chuckle, she remembered how much those screams had annoyed her when the twins had been toddlers.

In the midst of turning forward again, she spotted Percy standing a few feet away, not yet gone in to take their seats in the stadium. Percy wasn’t alone, though. Standing with him was a man Annabeth recognized as one of the coaches for Team USA. 

Poe Stoddard, a former swimmer so legendary Annabeth had known his name even before she started dating Percy, wore a USA Swimming sweatshirt and a pair of cargo shorts. A USA baseball cap to match his sweater covered his graying hair, which curled around the edges of his hat. Upon retirement in the mid-nineties, he’d gone from American swimming hero to pseudo celebrity, staying in the public eye one way or another through the subsequent decades. Annabeth was pretty sure he had even been on _Dancing with the Stars_ a few seasons back, but she hadn’t watched it. Piper had, though.

Percy stood with arms crossed. Even from a distance Annabeth could see the tension in his shoulders. His face was turned away from her so she couldn’t see his expression, but that body language alone had her concerned. Her first thought was that something had gone wrong in regards to the races he swam on Sunday, maybe his victories were being contested. She decided if that were the case, someone would have called to talk to him privately, not approached him in the middle of the packed CHI Health Center to confront him in public.

Instinct had her wanting to rush right over, but she was next in line and not sure whether Percy would want her rushing into the middle of whatever conversation they were having. She decided to keep an eye on him while she ordered the drinks, so when she finally did approach it would seem natural and not like she was making a big deal of it. If she misread the situation and rushed over in a blaze of protectiveness when everything was fine, she’d at best make a weird impression on Percy’s new coach, and at worst cause a problem where there had been none before.

In the time she had to turn away so she could order and pay, Poe and Percy both disappeared. She hurried into the stadium and was relieved to find Percy had taken his seat. That relief ended up minimal, because the way his face contorted with a mix of frustration and pain had all her panicked theorizing going back into overdrive.

“What was that about back there?” she asked, once she’d dodged fellow spectators and slipped into the folding seat beside Percy. 

Grimacing, Percy took the giant soda she held out to him. “You saw that?”

“I did,” she answered, cautious, trying to ignore the knot quickly forming in her stomach.

He couldn’t meet her eye, instead teasing the straw in his drink between his teeth and staring out at the stadium around them. It didn’t seem like he was actually seeing anything, though. His mind had ventured elsewhere. When Annabeth was just about to explode from the force of her own curiosity, Percy took a deep breath and said something she never would have expected even if she’d had a century to brainstorm possibilities. 

“That was my dad.”


	104. Chapter 104

Piper knew to expect a visit from Sally because Annabeth had texted to give her a heads up about the wellness check, but she still freaked out when she woke up from what she’d thought was a nap to the sound of someone unlocking the front door. Apparently it hadn’t been a nap, Piper had just slept through half the day, because it was already past two in the afternoon. Struggling to sit up in the blanket burrito she’d wrapped herself in before her nap, Piper blinked at the door as Sally stepped inside. 

Sally’s gray streaked hair was pulled into a ponytail and her eyes shone with concern evident even across the living room. A couple bags hung from her hands, rustling and bonking together heavily with every step she took. She stopped in the kitchen to set her bags on the dining table and then made straight for where Piper sat on the couch, still staring in confusion over where the time had gone and how Sally could already be there when it felt like just a few minutes ago Piper had been talking to Annabeth on the phone.

“You look like you’ve had a rough one today,” Sally observed, though there was so much kindness and empathy in her voice Piper didn’t at all feel offended by the comment about her appearance.

“I think I just slept,” Piper replied, smacking her lips together because of how dry her mouth had become. The bottle of water she’d brought over for herself was grossly room temperature, but Piper drank it down in a few greedy gulps just the same.

Squatting down beside the couch, Sally pressed the back of her hand to Piper’s forehead, concern unfading and written all over her face. “Doesn’t feel like you have a fever at the moment, at least. I take it you haven’t eaten?”

“No,” Piper answered, a little embarrassed at the admission, but mostly shocked by the gentleness and familiarity Sally treated her with. They’d only ever met twice, first at graduation and then at Leo and Cal's going away party, though Piper had heard plenty about the legendary Sally Jackson from Percy and Annabeth.

Bob chose that moment to come out from where he’d burrowed into Piper’s blanket burrito, announcing his presence with an indignant, high pitched meow while he stretched as big as his tiny body allowed, back arched and the claws of his front paws poking out. “And this must be the kitten my son brought home without asking,” Sally observed, taking a few seconds to scratch Bob’s head. He must have been starved for attention all day – or just starved, since Piper had neither given him his canned food breakfast nor checked his dry food bowl since the night before – because he instantly started purring and rubbing himself into Sally’s hand with all his might.

“I need to feed him,” Piper said groggily, starting to push away her blankets so she could do that very thing.

“Don’t even think about getting up,” Sally ordered, in a tone that was at once commanding and gentle. “I’ll be feeding both of you.”

Not daring to defy Sally’s orders, Piper settled back down into the couch and nodded. Piper watched from that seat while Sally rose and returned to the kitchen, Bob dropping from the couch so he could trot along behind her. In the kitchen, Sally worked with purpose and speed, pulling four Tupperware containers from a bag and depositing three into the fridge. One she popped the top off of and stuck in the microwave. Once it was heating up, she took three bottles of Pedialyte out of her second bag.

“Do you prefer Orange Breeze, Berry Frost, or Chilled Cherry?” Sally asked, leaning around the counter enough to see Piper properly.

It was difficult for Piper to process what was happening, that Sally was in the apartment and taking care of her and she didn’t need to do anything but sit there on the couch while this near stranger made such a benevolent effort. “Berry Frost, I guess?”

Sally laughed, returning to her work in the kitchen. “That’s Percy’s favorite, too.”

“Because it’s blue?” Piper asked, the sound of Sally’s laugh warming her in a much different manner than the blankets she’d been buried in all day just to stave off a chill.

“Probably,” Sally answered, putting the other two bottles of Pedialyte in the fridge while she grabbed a glass and filled it with ice for the Berry Frost. “I swear, that boy’s gotten to the point he’d eat nearly anything as long as it was blue.”

That, of course, was something Piper had noticed about Percy over the months. He usually picked the blue M&Ms out and gave the rest to Annabeth. Sometimes he went to the M&M store in Time Square and got entire bags of blue ones, or to general candy stores so he could pick out other types of blue treats. He only drank blue Gatorade. While he almost exclusively drank Coke, a few times she’d seen him grab whichever of the Mountain Dew flavors came in blue. He only ever brought home blue corn tortilla chips. Once she’d even watched him just about lose his mind with excitement over blueberry cheesecake while they were out for lunch. All that on top of the casual things he would mention – like his mom’s blue lemonade, blue pancakes, blue chocolate chip cookies. Piper also distinctly remembered blue marshmallows in the hot chocolate during their Spring Break trip to Montauk.

A few times Piper had considered asking him about it, but when she’d discovered blue was his favorite color she figured that was the reason behind it. As Sally poked around the kitchen getting Bob’s dinner for him, Piper found herself overcome with curiosity, though. “What brought on his thing with blue food?”

Sally didn’t answer immediately, and Piper wondered if she’d asked something private, but once the microwave beeped to announce it had finished heating whatever Sally had put into it and Bob was munching away at his meal, Sally spoke up again. 

“For a long time, when Percy was young, I worked at a candy shop in Grand Central Station,” she explained as she moved around the kitchen, never still even while she spoke. “It didn’t pay much more than minimum wage, and didn’t offer any benefits, but the couple who owned it were good to me. They wouldn’t hold it against me if I had to leave early because something came up while Percy was at school, and they would even let me bring him in with me on days when I couldn’t find someone to watch him.

“On one of those days I needed to bring him in with me, he got really restless. At that point he was too young for me to feel comfortable letting him go explore the station on his own – I think he was only six or seven – but I knew he needed _something_ to do other than the activity books I’d picked up for him. So, since blue was his favorite color, I told him to go find all the blue candy in the store and bring me back a piece of every kind. If he found them all, I would let him eat it.

“It was just a silly thing I came up with to pass some time, and he managed to collect one of every type in a bag and bring it back to me, but then the next day, when we went to the grocery store, he kept pointing out all the blue food he spotted. Most of it was too expensive for us to buy, though, because we really didn’t have the money to spend on those kinds of things. Percy, of course, at that age, didn’t understand, and it broke my heart to see him so disappointed every time I told him we couldn’t get something.

“I could see the wonder fading from him in real time,” Sally continued, returning to the living room with a cup of Pedialyte and a bowl of soup in her hands for Piper. “So, the next day, I picked up some blue food coloring. From then on, I’d put a few drops into anything I could – pancakes, cookies, cake, pasta, mashed potatoes. One time I even managed to dye his cauliflower blue. It got a little out of hand, if I’m being honest, but in a time when I couldn’t give him everything he wanted and deserved, being able to add a little magic to his days… I think it kept us both going. Life was hard, and the world a little cruel, but on mornings when he had his cereal in blue milk, things didn’t feel as horrible.”

Taking the bowl of soup offered to her, Piper found herself staring at the contents, considering the story Sally had just so willingly shared. All the time she’d known him, she’d considered Percy’s love of blue food as some weird little quirk, but she’d deeply underestimated the significance. Even just with that brief explanation, Piper could imagine why it would have become such a precious thing – not only had it been a source of hope during a difficult time, blue food had become a symbol of his mother’s love, her dedication to protecting him from a world bent on draining the joy out of every moment.

“It’s not chicken, don’t worry,” Sally assured her, apparently misunderstanding Piper’s silent staring into the bowl of soup. “I found a recipe that uses chickpeas, so you’ll get a good, hearty kick of protein.”

“Thank you,” Piper said softly, and started in on her soup without another word. Unfortunately, Piper couldn’t really taste anything, so it was mostly just hot, flavorless liquid, veggies and noodles, but she loved it just the same for the thought that had been put into it. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone had made her meal with so much intentional love and care.

Taking a seat on the edge of the couch next to Piper’s legs, Sally waved the thanks off. “I should be the one thanking you. I told Estelle that chickpeas were _chicken peas_ , like a special kind of chicken nugget, and now she can’t get enough of them.”

“She believed that?” Piper asked, almost choking on a spoonful of soup as she laughed.

Sally nodded, a smile spreading across her face. It reminded Piper very much of Percy’s smile, almost childish in its warmth and innocence, but with a subtle mischievousness. “She’s still at the age where she believes everything we tell her as the gospel truth. Someday soon she’s going to realize all the lies we’ve told her and never trust us again.” 

“I’m absolutely shocked by this confession, Ms. Jackson,” Piper teased, surprised she had it in her while she was still so stuffed up and achy. Something about Sally comforted her, making even the misery of her cold momentarily tolerable.

“A good three-fourths of parenting is just lying,” Sally replied with feigned severity. “And, please, call me Sally. I always feel old when people call me _Ms. Jackson._ ”

“Sally, then,” Piper confirmed with a nod.

Bob had already devoured his meal and returned to the living room, energized and deciding to go hunting – which, in the middle of the apartment, meant pouncing one of the little mouse shaped toys Percy had bought before leaving for Omaha. Piper spooned more soup into her mouth slowly as she watched him, but her lack of appetite quickly began to overcome the sentimentality Sally’s effort had inspired and she wasn’t confident she could even finish the modest serving Sally had brought over. The last thing she wanted was to appear rude or ungrateful.

For a couple minutes they sat in silence, enjoying the show Bob so enthusiastically put on for them, but eventually Sally’s gaze returned to Piper, the earlier concern back in her eyes. “So, Piper, tell me – how does an otherwise healthy young woman wind up with such a severe cold in the middle of summer?”

“I haven’t been sleeping well,” Piper answered, voice quiet. It was just a theory, but she knew poor sleep could weaken the immune system and it had been over a month since she managed more than two nights in a row of undisturbed sleep. Add in general stress, a lot of crying, and also not eating properly and consistently, well, Piper probably should have seen this coming.

“Because of Jason?” Sally asked, her head tilted to one side, her voice laden with compassion and understanding rather than any kind of judgment or accusation. If it were just Jason causing Piper’s sleeplessness, if she were so anguished over that loss it had literally made her sick, Piper didn’t think Sally would blame her one bit.

“Not just that,” Piper replied, keeping her eyes mostly on Bob rolling around and kicking at his mouse with his back paws. “There have been some other things going on, too, but it’s all kind of related.”

Humming quietly in understanding, Sally held her hand out for Piper’s bowl. It took a few seconds for Piper to realize Sally wanted to take it from her – apparently Sally had caught on that Piper had already taken her fill. “Percy told me you were having a rough go of it, but he didn’t tell me any details.”

Piper wasn’t sure what to say, and she felt bad for it, so she nodded again and handed her unfinished soup over. Sally gave her another warm smile and then returned to the kitchen. Drowsiness left Piper’s eyes feeling heavy, though how she could be tired after spending half the day sleeping was a mystery to her. Through the haze of sleepiness, she was vaguely aware of Sally doing a few more things in the kitchen, and Piper forced herself to drink some of the Pedialyte Sally had prepared for her. It tasted like little more than ice water, but it soothed her throat and she knew she needed the electrolytes after having so little to eat or drink.

After a few minutes filled with clanking dishes, rustling bags and running water, Sally returned from the kitchen. This time she had NyQuil caplets in the palm of her hand, which were offered as Sally took another seat on the edge of the couch. Piper accepted them with a sheepish head duck and mumbled thanks. The medicine would likely soon knock her out for another twelve or so hours, but Piper didn’t care in the slightest.

“Do you feel safe being alone tonight?” Sally asked, leaning in to press the back of her hand against Piper’s forehead again. “I can stay if you’d feel more comfortable with someone else around.”

“No, I’m fine, really,” Piper quickly insisted, though the offer did tempt her. She could manage on her own. Sally dropping in was more than enough, and Piper already felt a little better than she had the night before. The only real reason Piper would have wanted the company was to ease her loneliness.

Sally smiled, her eyes searching Piper’s face as she seemed to think for a moment. “I know it’s not really my place, but would you accept a little advice from this confessed liar of a mother?”

Laughing made Piper’s throat scratchy, which led to a fit of coughing, but she couldn’t help herself. Knowing all she did about Sally through Percy and Annabeth, it was ridiculous to boil those qualities down to simply _liar_. “Sure,” Piper agreed, once she’d calmed her cough and taken a drink of the Pedialyte to soothe her throat.

“No matter what happened between you and Jason, no matter what else you have going on, remember this one thing – you deserve happiness. You deserve to be healthy, and to sleep through the night consistently, and to move on with your life, when you’re ready for that,” Sally said, reaching out to brush some flyaway hairs out of Piper’s face and then gently placing the tips of her fingers on Piper’s cheek. “If you’re clinging to mistakes you made, or things you think you did wrong, forgive yourself for them. Try to make them right, if you can, but forgive _yourself_ first. Stop punishing yourself, Piper.”

For someone who didn’t know any details, Sally had hit the nail right on the head. “How did you know?”

Another smile spread across Sally’s face, her eyes sparkling playfully. “Experience. Don’t tell him I told you this, but Percy is very bad at forgiving himself for mistakes, and very good at punishing himself for them. I can recognize the signs well enough when I see them.”

“He’s lucky he has you,” Piper said softly, her eyes beginning to sting. Having her mind practically read by a near stranger should have been unsettling, but instead it was a relief, validating. Sally had seen and understood what she was going through, on some level, in just a few minutes. 

Piper also realized Annabeth had been trying to tell her the same thing, more or less, over a week ago, she just hadn’t been willing to listen. An outsider saying the same thing allowed Piper to get a little perspective, and perspective made Piper realize how unfair it had been of her to get so angry with Annabeth. Forgiving herself for making that very immature mistake would be where she started trying to take Sally’s advice – which also meant she’d definitely be taking the advice about making things right, too, as hard as that apology would likely be.

When Annabeth got home from Omaha, they’d have a long overdue conversation.

“I’m going to let you get back to resting now,” Sally said, giving Piper’s cheek a few quick pats. “There’s more soup in the fridge, you just need to heat it up. Try to drink a little more of that Pedialyte before you fall asleep. If you’re not feeling better in the next day or two, I want you to call me. I’ll come back and we’ll go see a doctor. Don’t think I won’t check with Percy to make sure, too.”

The firm tone Sally spoke with made Piper smile. “Understood. Thank you, again.”

Even with Piper’s confirmation, Sally didn’t get up, instead continuing to sit there beside Piper and stare with a small smile on her face. When Piper shifted awkwardly, Sally laughed and shook her head. “Sorry, I was just thinking – if I didn’t know my son better, I’d think he chose his friends based on how pretty they are,” she explained, reaching up to again pat Piper on the cheek. “He’s certainly surrounded by gorgeous people.”

Rendered speechless by the compliment, especially because she was sure she looked like absolute trash after a day of sleeping and feeling like shit, Piper watched Sally laugh lightly again before rising. A few things were collected from the kitchen, and then Sally stood at the door, ready to leave. They exchanged a few parting words, a reminder from Sally to be in touch if Piper didn’t feel better in a couple days, and with that Sally was gone. Immediately the apartment felt colder, as if Sally’s internal warmth had somehow radiated so effectively it warmed the physical atmosphere.

For a long time after Sally was gone, Piper continued to lay there on the couch, sipping her Pedialyte and thinking about Sally’s advice. It had been readily given and with an inherent, unprecedented kindness. There were so many things Piper still didn’t understand, so many doubts piled up in her own mind that she felt like one wrong step would send them tumbling and crush her entirely. Making things right with Annabeth was the first step, but it would not be the last, and Piper had a feeling it would be the easiest by far.

Thinking was soon interrupted by her bladder very suddenly deciding it was about to explode, so she threw off her blankets and waddled stiffly to her bathroom. After that, she curled up back in bed and let the cold medicine do its job.


	105. Chapter 105

“We can talk about it later,” Percy said, when Annabeth pressed him for more information. 

“I think we should talk about it now,” she insisted. That was a massive bomb he’d just dropped on her, out of nowhere, and clearly something had happened between Percy and Poe to upset him. There were so many thoughts bouncing around in her head that a headache threatened to start throbbing any second and just the idea of _not talking about it_ might very well have driven her crazy.

He continued to chew on his straw, gaze fixed outward. “Competition is about to start and I don’t want anyone overhearing. Later.”

Annabeth had never seen Percy like this, distant and closed off, refusing even to reach out to touch or have a conversation with her. It frustrated her to be shut down so completely, but more than that, she worried about him. She was also confused about why he wouldn’t have brought this up sooner, like before they’d even left for Omaha, or any time since they’d arrived. He had to realize it would’ve come up eventually, one way or another. Between competition itself and the intensive training he’d be doing with the Olympic team, Percy would be seeing a lot of Poe Stoddard over the course of the next month and a half.

In the back of her mind, a loud and panicked voice worried he hadn’t told her because he didn’t trust her. This hadn’t come up when she Googled him all those months ago, and it hadn’t come up in her general research about the US swim program. It was a secret. Percy wouldn’t worry about people overhearing if that weren’t the case. She tried to remind herself she had told him not to feel guilty for not confessing every little secret in the first few months of their relationship, but this felt like a very large, very currently relevant secret to have omitted.

 _A secret_. It was close to an hour into her panicking – sitting silently beside Percy as they watched the first qualifying heats of the day get underway – that Annabeth remembered what a precarious state all their secrets were in. Percy was trying to keep this secret, but it could very well have been in the file Jove Grace had used to blackmail Piper. If it was in there, it wasn’t safe.

Her eyes were continually drawn to Percy as time dragged on. He sat slumped in his chair, holding his massive, stadium sized soft drink between both his hands, chewing on that damned straw but barely drinking any of his Coke. None of the joy he’d exhibited while watching his fellow swimmers compete the day before appeared in his expression that morning, his excitable smiles replaced by a brooding grimace. Annabeth wondered if he even saw what was happening out in the pool or if he was so lost in his own thoughts nothing else could penetrate.

She remembered the day she’d met her mother, standing in that stupid hallway and not knowing what to say or think, let alone feel. This wasn’t necessarily Percy’s first time meeting his father, but considering the fact he’d never spoken about the man at all, she doubted they’d had many (if any) meaningful encounters. When it had been Annabeth and Athena, the hallway had been mostly deserted, the only person present to overhear or see anything, Jason. Percy’s encounter with Poe had been in the middle of a busy stadium with countless people to see them and hear what was being said, and Poe was an especially recognizable figure, likely to draw attention.

“Percy,” she finally said, as gently as she could manage, putting aside her own fears and frustrations. How long it had taken her to get there was embarrassing, but she hoped late was better than never.

When he turned his head to look at her, Percy seemed almost startled, as if he’d forgotten she was there, or maybe even where he was. Annabeth held out her hand over their shared arm rest, palm up, hoping for him to take it. He did, threading his fingers with hers and relaxing infinitesimally, but still enough for her to take note of. That was something, at least, and she drew their entwined hands into her own lap so she could cling to him while the day’s scheduled events proceeded, her thumb brushing over his knuckles. If it helped him, she didn’t know, but it certainly soothed a little of her own anxiety.

Other NYU teammates came and went from their row of seats, but everyone must have known Percy well enough to sense something had thrown him off, because they’d say hello and nothing else before finding their own seats. Annabeth wondered what they thought was wrong, if they figured he was just suffering from nerves ahead of his own events later that week, or if they sensed something personal and unrelated to the sport had happened. Maybe _they_ knew about Poe Stoddard’s relationship with their star swimmer. That last thought was completely irrational. If Percy had felt comfortable enough telling his teammates, he would have told her long before they’d arrived in Omaha. Letting those kinds of thoughts get the better of her wouldn’t help either of them.

Just before noon Percy announced he was hungry. Annabeth momentarily worried he would suggest they try to put together a meal from concession stand foods, but he led her past the closest one and straight to the tunnel that connected the stadium to their hotel. His continued silence, even as they dodged through the growing crowds of spectators, only deepened her worries about whatever had happened with Poe. She was so desperate to be alone for them to talk, she didn’t even object to the idea of paying unreasonable amounts of money to order room service, something she’d been adamant they avoid doing since arriving.

Only once they’d put their order in and settled into bed to wait did Annabeth find the courage to try asking him for information again. “What exactly happened?”

“He wants me to back out of the Olympics,” Percy answered, still unable to meet her eye, his voice fragile, childlike.

Of all the possibilities Annabeth had entertained over the hours of tortuous waiting, that had not been one of them. “He told you that? In the middle of the stadium?”

“No, but he told me we should talk and I know that’s what he wants,” Percy said, still completely dejected.

“Why?” she demanded, all of her own insecurities thrown to the wayside in favor of the pure rage she suddenly felt on Percy’s behalf. Asking that of him, when he’d come so far and worked so hard, was cruel. It was unforgivable.

Percy stared at the wall across the room for a few seconds and then all at once he couldn’t sit still. He jumped up and started pacing around the room’s small amount of open space, one hand running through his hair over and over again. The hand remaining at his side was balled into a fist, knuckles turning white. It reminded her of their first date, at the end of the night when he’d had to take a few minutes to calm himself down and process all they’d gone through. His anger had been for her that night. As minutes passed and he continued to struggle to reign his emotions in, Annabeth began to wonder if what he felt now wasn’t for someone other than himself, too.

It was for his mother, she realized. Whatever Percy was struggling with in that moment had more to do with Sally than his own anguish over what Poe could ask of him. Poe was the reason Sally wasn’t there with them on their trip, why she hadn’t been there for his national debut the year before, why she hadn’t even gone to Percy’s Division Championships earlier that year. They made excuses. Percy pretended he didn’t want her there because he hated anyone going out of their way for him, and that alone made it believable enough, but it had also been a ruse.

Poe Stoddard had a wife and had been married since before he retired from competition, since before Percy was born. Knowing that much, the conclusion became easy enough to reach – Sally and Poe had an affair all those years ago and Percy was the result of it. Now, Percy feared the secret coming out, the attention it would bring to his mother, her name in headlines, her career potentially at risk, all over a mistake she’d made when she was young. Annabeth did not for a second believe Sally would put the burden of keeping that secret on his shoulders, but Percy would absolutely put it on himself.

Even the week before, Percy had tried to convince Annabeth to stay behind. She didn’t doubt he had genuinely worried for Piper’s well being, but she did wonder if he hadn’t been hoping to avoid this very moment. The idea that he might have preferred to face this alone stung, but again she pushed her own feelings aside to focus on him.

“He’s worried people are going to find out about me if I stir up too much attention,” Percy finally answered, his anger snuffed out as suddenly as it had exploded, and he collapsed in the desk chair across from their bed with his face in his hands.

If it were possible, Annabeth’s rage only grew with that explanation. Of all the selfish things she’d experienced and witnessed parents do over the years, asking a child to give up their dream really took the cake. “What are you going to tell him?” she asked, her heart in her throat, terrified by the idea Percy might actually _agree_ , not for Poe, but for Sally.

“It’s not up to me this time,” Percy replied, sitting up so she could see his face and the distress written all over it. “I signed a contract. I have to see this season through.”

Relief flooded Annabeth like a physical wave washing over her and cooling off the worst of her boiling anger. For the first time since February she was truly thankful to have been his inspiration to agree to that endorsement, even if it had been absolutely crazy of him to feel like he needed to for her sake. It did kind of drive home her suspicion that he’d been looking for some excuse other than his own desire to take the opportunity, though.

“Last year, when you backed out of international competition,” Annabeth said, trying to keep her voice soothing, doing her best not to accuse him of anything, “it wasn’t just because journalists were digging up things about Bianca, was it?”

Percy fell silent again, considering his answer carefully. It was no wonder he wanted to have this conversation in private. Back at the stadium, with all its noise and distractions, she doubted anyone would have been able to collect their thoughts after the mess that had been made of them. 

“The possibility of that story making headlines made me seriously consider giving up after graduation,” Percy finally answered, lifting his head to look Annabeth in the eye. “By the time it became an issue, I’d already dropped out of Worlds, though.”

Annabeth nodded, her fingers beginning to itch with the desire to touch him. “What do you think he’ll say when you tell him you won’t drop out?”

“I don’t know,” he answered, dropping his gaze back down to his hands. “Honestly, I’d have been happier if he never even acknowledged me at all. Before last summer I wasn’t even sure he knew I existed. If he’d pretended to think I was just another swimmer, it would have been fine by me.”

All the times Percy had showed her unwavering support in her journey with her mother, and he had been sitting on this, dealing with something Annabeth hadn’t even considered. It was difficult to remind herself not to be upset with Percy for keeping this to himself, but she really did wish he’d confided in her sooner. She wasn’t sure what she might have done different, if anything, but she certainly would have liked to be aware.

It was her own fault, though. Annabeth had never asked him about his biological father. Percy had always offered up information about his family so willingly. He loved talking about them, telling stories about them, and it came so naturally to him. The fact that he never brought his biological father up had made her think the man was of no consequence. Then again, Annabeth never would have brought her own mother up before that letter had arrived in February, but her silence wouldn’t have meant Athena was of no consequence. Whether Percy would have been willing to tell her the truth when faced with the question directly was a different story, but she could have at least asked.

Annabeth scooted to the edge of the bed, reaching out for Percy. He took her hand and let her pull him over on the wheels of his desk chair. In a few swift motions her legs were wrapped around him, his hands resting on her thighs. She wasn’t exactly in his lap, but she was still tangled up with him. It was awkward, and she was probably at real risk of falling if either of them moved, but being close to him was the only thing that mattered. 

“Are you going to be alright?” she asked, cupping his cheeks in her hands.

“I don’t know,” he admitted, leaning forward to rest his forehead on her shoulder.

“Did you start swimming because of him?” she asked, slipping her hands into Percy’s hair and stroking it, letting her fingers glide through the soft strands and smiling at the quiet, contented sigh he exhaled in response.

“No,” he answered, voice muffled. “I started swimming when I was like five. My mom didn’t tell me about him until I was thirteen. When I found out, I actually almost stopped for a bit, just because… I didn’t want to be like him, or, God forbid, make him think I swam to impress him. That’s why I started focusing on longer distances. He was a sprinter.”

Choosing his discipline just to prove a point like that was so quintessentially Percy, Annabeth couldn’t help smiling. With that smile on her face, she turned her head and pressed a kiss to the side of his head.

“I’m so proud of you,” she whispered, something that had been true for months, but that she felt especially strongly in that moment. All those years he’d been racing toward this dream while knowing it likely meant facing Poe and he hadn’t let it stop him. The bumps along the way didn’t count. Everyone struggled with doubts and faced roadblocks in life. Not just anyone could have overcome those things the way he had, though.

Percy lifted his head to meet her gaze, his eyes shining with guilt. “Listen, Beth, the reason I didn’t tell you–”

“Was because you weren’t ready, and that’s okay,” she finished for him. Yes, she was upset he hadn’t told her before they’d arrived in Omaha, but the further removed she became from her shock, the more she understood why he might have been afraid to tell her. Some part of him had probably been holding out hope Poe would ignore him this time around, act like nothing more than a coach, and it would never need to come up.

He managed to smile a little then. “Paul is the only other person who knows who my dad is. I’ve never told Leo or Hazel. Poe’s name isn’t even on my birth certificate. I’m still scared about someone finding out, though. My mom, I don’t want her name dragged through the mud.”

 _The file_ , Annabeth thought again, swallowing down her panic. 

When Piper had told Annabeth about it, no details about what it contained on anyone else had been shared. Annabeth’s deal with Percy had kept her from telling him it existed, but she wondered if maybe she ought to, in case _this_ secret was one of the many waiting to be exposed at the drop of a hat. She could see in his eyes that he was scared, though, and just days before one of the most important swims of his life, she didn’t want to put any extra pressure on him. She would talk to Piper first, once they were home, and decide how to progress from there.

“You said yourself, he’s not even listed on your birth certificate,” Annabeth told him, trying to reassure herself as much as Percy. “It’ll be fine.”

“Thank you for not listening when I suggested you to stay home,” he added, much softer, and then ducked his head to hide away against her shoulder again.

She probably shouldn’t have laughed at him, because he was clearly being sincere and very much affected by the events of their morning, but she did anyway. “How did you manage last year all on your own?”

Percy tilted his head, so his breath tickled her skin and his lips brushed against her neck. Her fingers remained in his hair and she felt him begin to relax, letting go of his anxiety and the last of the anger that encounter with Poe had inspired. “He didn’t talk to me until after the 1500 meter last time, which is always the last event. I don’t really know if I managed, but at least I got to go home the next day.”

Last time Poe had waited until Percy’s greatest performance ever and ruined the moment. This time he was trying to throw Percy off _before_ his best events. Annabeth hated thinking the worst of people, but she did, and she believed without a doubt Poe had chosen his moment on purpose. 

“Don’t let him get in your head, Percy,” she whispered, leaning in to put her lips to his ear and holding him a little closer. “You’ve worked too hard to let him ruin this for you, and he’s not worth it, anyway. He’s just another coach.”

“He’s just another coach,” Percy echoed, nuzzling his face further into the crook of her neck. “And I don’t swim for him, or anyone. I swim for me.”


	106. Chapter 106

Piper felt better when she woke up Wednesday morning. Not great, not healthy, but better. 

She opted to stay home again, something Bob seemed happy about considering he never strayed more than a few feet from her side. This time she actually managed to get work done instead of just sleeping the entire day away.

Percy qualified for the 800 Freestyle final easily, as they’d all expected. He also qualified for the 200 Free, which Piper hadn’t even realized he’d decided to compete in. She received the news about both events first in a string of text messages from Annabeth, and then again through push notifications as the news made headlines. She’d maybe set her news app to alert her any time his name made a headline, but she would not admit as much to a single soul on the face of the planet. By the time evening rolled around, her sense of taste had even started coming back, and she practically inhaled an entire container of Sally’s soup for dinner.

Thursday Piper opted to go back to work. She still wasn’t feeling completely herself, but staying home another day was going to drive her insane. As much as she enjoyed Bob keeping her entertained while she worked, being cooped up and otherwise alone was not something Piper handled well. 

That night she made it home, with Chinese takeout, just in time to watch Percy’s races live. The 200 meter came first, a relatively short race in which Percy took fourth place. To her surprise, he seemed satisfied with that performance, even though his time was short of the cut off to qualify for the event in Rome. Piper would definitely need to ask Annabeth about that later.

Things got dicey with the 800 meter an hour later. Piper couldn’t explain it, but in the seconds before the race started, even with his goggles on and just through the TV, she could tell something was wrong with Percy. The race was tighter than she expected, and the commentators made observations about Percy’s form being off, how his turns weren’t as sharp as usual. In the end, one of Percy’s competitors snagged the top spot from him by a little over a second. Percy’s irritation was clear in the moments after the race finished, but the cameras focused more on the smug looking blonde who had won. Having an off day wasn’t the end of the world, though. He qualified to swim in Rome, that was what mattered most.

On Friday night, feeling relieved that the week was behind her, Piper called Annabeth as soon as she got home. It was a relatively short call, interrupting Annabeth and Percy’s dinner, but it still had her smiling in no time. In the midst of it Bob finished his dinner and came to sit with her on the couch while he gave himself a bath.

“I’m glad you’re feeling better,” Annabeth said, tone soft, when Piper had playfully threatened to hang up. The words came with a heavy implication that Annabeth wasn’t just talking about the cold. Between the hope Piper had allowed herself to cling to after seeing Jason the week before and the words of wisdom Sally had imparted, Piper really was feeling _better_. There were a lot of unknowns in her future, potential for both good and bad, but until the time came to face those challenges Piper would allow herself a little time to heal.

“Me too,” Piper agreed, a smile tugging at her lips.

When Piper finally did hang up, it left just her and Bob. One of his back legs was up in the air and he was cleaning his butt, displaying it for her to see as if purposefully showing off. _Lovely_ , but she was not interested in watching him. There was a pint of ice cream in the freezer with her name on it, since she finally had her sense of taste again, and there was a new movie on Netflix that looked absolutely terrible, which meant it was exactly the kind of–

“What am I doing?” she said aloud, staring down at the pint of Chunky Monkey in her hand, then to the sweatpants she wore, her bare feet.

It was Friday night, late June. Technically, Piper was single, though she was nowhere near ready to try meeting or hooking up with anyone. That didn’t mean she couldn’t go out and enjoy herself. She could go out and dance, get drunk, have fun. For weeks she’d been moping around the apartment, mad at herself, miserable and hopeless. Sally had told her to stop punishing herself and, since her cold had been conquered, there was no time like the present to start doing that very thing.

She could call Hazel. No, she _should_ call Hazel. Maybe Hazel wasn’t an ideal partner for a wild night out, considering she was only twenty, but they could easily find something for both of them to do. Plenty of places allowed under-twenty-ones while still serving alcohol. Or Piper could have a fun night out without drinking, something entirely possible. Probably. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d done it, but surely there were ways.

Ice cream returned to the freezer, Piper snagged her phone where she’d left it on the couch – stopping to give the kitten a few head scratches – and dialed Hazel as she made her way back to her room. The call didn’t take long. Hazel was elated to hear from Piper and even more excited at the prospect of going out. Percy and Annabeth were gone, Will was still in Malibu, Nico had a gig, and Frank was cramming for his LSATs coming up on Monday. It seemed Piper was not the only one suffering from cabin fever.

While Piper hadn’t been sure what they might do together, Hazel had needed no time to think. Someone she knew was throwing a house party – and by _house_ , Hazel meant _estate_ , specifically on the beach in Southampton. Parties in the Hamptons went out of style for Piper when she hit twenty-one and could party at clubs and venues closer to home instead of just some random person’s place every night, but it actually sounded like the perfect escape. Out of the apartment, out of the city, and into the unknown.

Piper opted for a simple outfit – a black lace accented body suit, denim shorts, a plaid overshirt to stave off the cool night air, fishnets and a pair of silver pumps she knew full well she’d be regretting before the end of the night – but she felt good getting herself made up to actually go out. It had been way too long. 

Just over an hour later, Hazel had arrived to meet Piper and they were on their way. She looked equally ready for a night out herself, in a cropped and fitted pink t-shirt, a white miniskirt, and knee high boots. Getting to their destination wouldn’t take particularly long, but they entertained themselves in the back of a cab by taking an obscene number of selfies.

“You should send this one to Frank,” Piper suggested, pointing at a picture of Hazel that had turned out exceptionally well, the light hitting just right to make the gold highlight on her cheeks shine. “Make sure he knows what he had to miss out on tonight.”

“I don’t want him to feel bad,” Hazel replied, though she had already pulled up her texts to do exactly as Piper suggested, her tongue peeking out between her teeth. “Maybe just a little bad, though.”

“So,” Piper said, sitting back in her seat and watching as the scenery slowly shifted from the urban sights of New York City into more suburban landscapes, “who’s our host tonight? Anyone I would know?”

Hazel hit send on her picture and set her phone in her lap, grinning, pleased with herself. “Do you know the name Tanaka?”

“Wait, like the designer?” Piper replied, eyebrows shooting up. She’d been expecting someone their age, or at least close to, but the man that popped into her head was in his fifties. “He’s the one throwing this party?”

“His daughter, Drew,” Hazel corrected, laughing. “We go way back. She was a bit of a creep when we were young, but she mellowed out after high school and she throws the _best_ parties.”

It was easy for Piper to forget Hazel had grown up in the same world as Jason and probably didn’t even think twice about having such elite connections. A designer’s daughter might not have seemed particularly impressive at face value, but Piper’s casual interest in fashion meant she knew the basics surrounding the Tanaka family history. The designer who had first popped into Piper’s mind had made a name for himself in the nineties and turned his line into one of the most profitable fashion brands in the world. People touted him as a self-made man, but in reality he’d been plenty advantaged by wealth and connections through his parents, who owned a major grocery chain in Japan. The fact that his daughter had grown up beside kids from families like Hazel’s or Jason’s didn’t surprise Piper in the least, nor did the fact she herself had never been on a guest list for one of Drew’s parties.

The vast difference between the daughter of a multi-millionaire movie star and the daughter of a billionaire designer, entrepreneur and heir felt more pronounced to Piper now than ever. Drew sounded like the kind of woman Jove would pick out for Jason – the proper pedigree and education, plenty of wealth and power of her own to bring to the table. Those were thoughts Piper decided to shake off. Tonight was about feeling better, not working herself into an irrationally jealous fit over someone Jason might be encouraged to date at some unspecified point in the future.

At least her negativity became easy enough to cast aside once they arrived at the party, already in full swing at just over half past ten. The house itself was as massive as Piper had expected, on a sprawling and well manicured estate just off the beach. People milled about the front lawn, spilling out the front door. Music pounded so loudly inside that Piper could hear it even as the cab pulled up to drop them off.

Once they settled up with the cab driver, Hazel took Piper’s hand and together they ascended the front steps and into the house. Speakers all over filled the house with music, just as Piper suspected, and people were scattered around the living room with drinks in hand, sitting, standing, talking. Hazel kept going through the house, though, until they’d passed through the back door and into the yard.

When Hazel had said Drew threw the best parties, she had not been joking.

The ocean spread across the horizon maybe a thousand feet away from the deck on which Piper stood, illuminated by moonlight and the massive lighting system rigged up in the backyard. Party goers splashed in a pool off to the left of the deck. A live DJ provided the music that had been pumped through the sound system into the house and a massive dance floor in front of his booth was already getting plenty of use. At the back of the yard two bartenders worked making drinks and waitstaff mingled with the crowd offering an endless array of finger foods. To top it all off, out on the beach a bonfire had been lit. Between that and the more relaxed vibe in the house, Piper figured there was something for everyone that night, no matter what kind of atmosphere they enjoyed.

“Hazel, you made it!” a voice shouted over the music and ambient noise, and then Hazel was being tackled in a hug. “I was beginning to think we’d never see you again.”

“We decided the city was too boring tonight,” Hazel replied, hugging her attacker back and laughing. When she had been released, Hazel turned to Piper and said, “Drew, this is Piper McLean. Piper, this is Drew Tanaka.”

Drew studied Piper for a few seconds, a well practiced sizing up. To be fair, Piper took the same opportunity, taking in Drew’s appearance in a quick scan – long black hair tied back into a sleek, high ponytail, strapless sequined mini dress, knee high boots, diamonds on throat and ears alike, makeup so impeccable it had likely been done professionally. Piper’s twinge of earlier, irrational jealousy returned in full force. Drew was absolutely stunning.

“Wait,” Drew said, brow furrowing as she looked at Hazel, then at Piper, and back to Hazel. Piper prepared herself for _the question_ , to be asked about her dad, but she was deeply mistaken about the curiosity on Drew’s face. “I thought you were dating Frank Zhang? Did that not work out?”

“Oh, Piper’s just a friend,” Hazel quickly corrected, laughing again. “Frank’s holed up at home studying tonight.”

“Ugh,” Drew replied, accompanying the sound with a gagging motion. “I would say this isn’t really Frank’s scene anyway, but the men in that family are _wildly_ unpredictable.”

Before either Piper or Hazel could ask Drew what she meant by that, she screamed out another name and hurried away to tackle another of her guests in a hug. Based on how many guests were already in attendance, Piper got the impression most of Drew’s night would be spent on brief interactions like the one they’d just had and a lot of screaming. Piper did not envy her the burden of party host.

“That’s Drew mellowed out?” Piper asked, taking one last glance over her shoulder at where Drew stood chatting up her newest victim and then allowing Hazel to pull her further into the party proper.

“ _Way_ mellowed out,” Hazel confirmed, flashing a grimace back at Piper. “Imagine Regina George before getting hit by the bus, but even more of an actual tyrant.”

“Well, then, I won’t feel guilty drinking myself stupid at her expense,” Piper said, taking the initiative to pull Hazel along with her straight to the bar.

Technically speaking, Piper was not supposed to be drinking. That had been her agreement with Annabeth and she usually wouldn’t break her oath, but Piper wanted to be normal again for a night. Normal for her meant drinking at a party – getting _drunk_ at a party. Hazel seemed like the perfect partner for achieving that goal, because Hazel didn’t know about Piper’s nightmares or the general mess of her life. They were just friends looking to enjoy themselves, and maybe one of them was a little heartbroken, but a month after the fact Piper didn’t think anyone would begrudge her letting loose.

They did two rounds of shots there at the bar to get themselves started, Piper welcoming the sting of alcohol on her throat, and then ordered cocktails. The bartenders didn’t even look twice at Hazel or ask to see ID, which Piper figured had been Drew’s instruction. When the girls had their drinks, Hazel took Piper by the hand again and together they wandered over to the dance floor to join the writhing masses there.

Going out had been the right call, Piper knew that within the first five minutes out on that floor. Nothing existed beyond that square of hardwood in Drew Tanaka’s back yard. The music was just noise to her, a heavy beat and pumping bass, exactly the way she wanted it. Her drink was soon gone and she barely tasted it, but it and the earlier shots were quick to give her a pleasant buzz. Hazel’s didn’t last, either. From there they let themselves get lost in the sway of bodies, the rhythm pulsing around them, and the heat continuing to rise despite the quickly cooling night. Before long, Piper had to peel off her over shirt and tie it around her waist, sweat covering every inch of her skin. 

Exactly how long Piper and Hazel were out there, Piper didn’t know, but eventually they stumbled away from the crowd and back toward the bar to order another round of drinks. On the floor they’d kept carefully close so as not to accidentally be separated, and when they walked they stayed connected by the hand. Piper took the opportunity to spin Hazel in a circle and that had them each wobbling dangerously on their heels. Both girls giggled, drunk more on the atmosphere than the alcohol they’d already consumed, though Piper intended to change that for at least herself. 

She felt flushed and relished in the breeze that swept over her away from the crowd, leaning back against the bar as the bartender made quick work of mixing drinks. In the time she’d been engrossed in dancing, more guests had arrived, the yard and beach crawling with guests. Piper wondered how many of them had been expected and how many were party crashers. A few times over the years she and Annabeth had crashed parties like these, heard from the friend of a friend about some rager and showed up to get lost in a sea of faces.

Maybe Jove Grace had a point. She wasn’t someone who got invited to parties thrown by heiresses like Drew Tanaka, she was the kind of person who crashed those parties for the thrill and a good time. Maybe she didn’t care, because she wouldn’t have traded the life she’d lived just to be on some stupid guest list.

“I wish I had thought to wear a swimsuit,” Hazel sighed, gazing longingly over at the pool.

Piper followed Hazel’s eyes to the group splashing around there and grinned. “Isn’t that what underwear is for? I doubt many of them are in suits.”

Drink once again in hand, a small grin pulled at Hazel’s lips. “Do you think we could?”

“We?” Piper teased, feigning surprise, as if she didn’t think a dip in the pool sounded marvelous as well. “You’re the one who wants to swim.”

“Let’s do it,” Hazel said, smile growing as she nodded.

They smiled at each other, allowing excitement and tension to build as the seconds ticked by, and then as one they pounded the drinks they’d just ordered. Hand in hand and giggling again, they raced away from the bar and toward the pool. Halfway there Hazel stumbled and let out a screech, the heel of one of her boots sticking in the grass. While Hazel stopped to pry her heel out of the dirt, Piper decided to kick off her pumps. 

In that instant they heard a round of cheers coming up from the crowd surrounding the pool and then a form flashed by, some guy cannonballing into the pool after running across the lawn. A tidal wave crashed over the others in the pool on his impact, water splashing over the sides and onto the surrounding deck. The drama and showmanship appealed to Piper on an instinctual level and she was about to lean over to suggest to Hazel they do the very same thing, when the culprit surfaced and she froze in her tracks entirely.

Another guy tackled Jason before he even had a chance to catch his breath, a chorus of yelling from other onlookers following as he and the other guy deteriorated into a waterlogged wrestling match. It lasted maybe thirty seconds before Jason had the other guy in a headlock and then the spectators cheered again. Once released, the other guy splashed Jason in revenge, pointing in a playfully menacing way as if to tell Jason to watch out. Through the ringing in her own ears Piper couldn’t hear what Jason shouted back, but then he swam to the edge of the pool and climbed out.

Surprise number two somehow hit Piper even harder than the first – a new tattoo, his entire shoulder covered in a swirling design of black ink, but she couldn’t make out any real details from across the yard.

A few more guys rushed over to Jason as he stood poolside shaking the water out of his hair. One hooked an arm over Jason’s neck as another offered him a red cup filled to the brim with foamy beer. Jason chugged it and then crumpled the cup in his fist to more cheers from his peers.

He was wiping foam from his mouth when his eyes finally landed on Piper, then it was Jason’s turn to freeze in place and Piper’s turn to move. Instead of launching herself at the pool, though, Piper grabbed her shoes and turned on her heel to start back toward the house. She didn’t even stop to make sure Hazel followed, too desperate to get _out_ and _away_ , all while kicking herself for not even having considered Jason might be there when his social circle and Hazel’s were so connected.

Except she wouldn’t have, even in her wildest considerations, thought Jason might be at that kind of party. Jason hated big parties. He hated getting drunk and being the center of attention and probably half the people in attendance that night, based on the few things he’d told her about the people he’d known in high school. At least she’d _thought_ he hated those things. It certainly looked like he was enjoying himself back there, so clearly she had no idea what she was talking about.

“Piper, wait,” Jason called from behind her, and the sound of his voice only made her want to get away that much quicker. He had a significant height advantage, though. She was only half way through the house before he caught up to her and grabbed her forearm to stop her. 

“Wait for what?” she asked, turning to face him and snapping her arm away in the same motion.

Breathless from both his show and chasing her, still dripping wet, face flushed, Jason stared for a few seconds. Most party goers had already moved from the house to the backyard or beach, but there were still a handful scattered around the lavish living room and Piper could feel all their eyes on her – no, all their eyes on _Jason_. They didn’t know her, but they knew him.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, a hint of panic in his eyes, keeping his voice as low as the music still flooding the house allowed.

She pointed behind him, Hazel having just approached after catching up. “I’m here with Hazel. What are _you_ doing here?”

“Drew and I went to high school together,” he answered, as if he didn’t know full well what she actually meant. Piper didn’t care how he knew Drew. 

“Right, you’ve never missed one of her parties,” Piper replied with a bitter laugh. “And you always launch yourself into pools and chug beer at them, because those are the things _you_ do.”

Jaw clenched, Jason swallowed hard and took a slow, deep breath. Piper knew that look – the wrinkles forming in his forehead, the firm press of his lips into a thin line, the furrow of his brow – a blend of restrained anger and the struggle to find his words. Confusion and frustration clouded her mind, but in the midst of it all her heart ached over the reminder of _him_ , of how well she knew him and how much she missed every last detail.

Poor Hazel still stood several feet away, boots in her hands and awkwardly trying not to look at either Jason or Piper, giving them space. Hazel was the only one affording them even that much privacy. Jason seemed all too aware of their audience, his eyes flickering around the room before finally returning to Piper. In lieu of an answer, he closed the few steps between them, placing his hand on the small of Piper’s back and leading her firmly away from the living room. His sudden proximity set her heart racing and the alcohol in her system made her too slow to react, her mind not even catching up to where her feet were headed until she and Jason had slipped down a darkened hall.

All at once Piper became hyper aware of the fact Jason was half naked and dripping wet, with a new tattoo and cheeks flushed her favorite shade of red. The sudden awareness seemed mutual, because Jason’s eyes dropped for a few seconds once they were alone, taking in what _she_ wore – lace and fishnets and barely there shorts. Piper was not sober enough for this. She would never drink another drop of alcohol in her life.

“You don’t owe me any explanations,” she said, taking several steps back from him and not missing the way his eyes had settled dangerously on her lips. “If I’d known you were going to be here, I wouldn’t have come. I’m sorry for ruining your night.”

“You’re allowed to be at a party,” he replied, calmer than he’d been in the living room, but still very plainly restraining himself.

“Yeah, but this is…” Piper trailed off, not sure how she intended to finish that sentence. 

These were his people, this was his world, and she’d trespassed where she didn’t belong. If Jason needed to blow off steam at high profile parties at the end of hellish weeks at the job he hated, he didn’t need her shoving her nose into it, passing judgment on how he relaxed or tried to cope in the wake of her breaking his heart. She couldn’t blame Jason for not acting like himself. Piper hadn’t been acting like herself much, either.

“Pipes, I–”

“No,” she interrupted, shaking her head and taking another step back. “No, you don’t get to just _Pipes_ me any time you want.”

His face contorted in confusion, tilting a hint to the left. “What does that mean?”

Again, Piper had no words to explain to him how strongly that nickname affected her. Deep down she knew this was a perfect opportunity to be honest, her chance to start making things right, even though the timing and venue were terrible. Fear closed her throat up entirely and panic blended with the alcohol pumping through her veins, turning the gentle racing of her heart into a painful and harsh pounding. She needed to get away – from that moment, that hall, the torturous urge to touch him. Once he knew the truth, he wouldn’t want her, and Piper was not ready to face the reality honesty would bring her to.

“Enjoy your party, Jason,” she forced herself to say, putting a couple more steps between them. “Being the life of the party suits you. I hope it makes you happy.”

“No,” Jason replied, stopping Piper in her tracks before she could turn to run. “No, see, _you_ don’t get to do _that_.”

“Hope something makes you happy?” she asked, huffing in disbelief. The words hadn’t been sarcastic. Piper meant what she said. His smile, the way he’d laughed with those people she’d never met, all of it suited him, and she wanted nothing in this world more than for him to be happy.

“Run away when I’m trying to have a conversation with you,” he said, taking a step toward her, his expression hardening again.

“What, like you did after dinner last week?” Piper replied, sincerity turned to sarcasm in the blink of an eye.

Jason laughed, taking several seconds to drag his hands down his face. “How the hell was that running?”

Yet again, she had no words for him. He hadn’t known she had been struggling to summon her courage to talk to him on that sidewalk. If anything, her awkwardness had probably made him think she wanted him to go away, and quickly. Telling him now that she’d been grappling with some way to ask him to talk would then open the door for him to ask what she wanted to talk about, and again fear lodged itself in her throat, choking the truth out of her.

“And the day after graduation?” she spat out, because her mind could think of nothing else, and as soon as she spoke the words, Piper regretted them.

Not once had she blamed him for walking out that afternoon, at least not actively in her mind. She resented him for it, though. The realization settled on her heart like a thousand pound weight and there would be no escaping it now. His leaving that afternoon, so easily, without so much as a word, had just confirmed her own greatest fears. Piper hadn’t been honest with him, and that lie hadn’t been fair, but even when the hopeless truth had been hidden from him, Jason hadn’t put up a fight. Telling him the truth wouldn’t have mattered, it would have just made him run that much faster.

“That– How was– I didn’t–” Jason stuttered, his shoulders slumping. He took a step back, as if the words had hit him physically. Once again, his eyes scanned her, but this time his gaze wasn’t searing. Jason seemed to be realizing something, but Piper had no idea what. When he straightened up and met her eyes again, his had turned ice cold. “You know what, I am going to enjoy my party. Stay if you want. I don’t care what you do.”

It was Piper’s turn to have the air knocked out of her by words, but Jason didn’t stick around for her to reply. He shouldered past her and disappeared down the hall.

Piper knew nothing good would come from staying there in that hall and letting her emotions consume her, so she followed Jason a few seconds later. When she reentered the living room, Hazel awaited her, eyes wide with worry and bottom lip pinched between her teeth. A few feet away Jason had been approached by Drew, who’d apparently given him a towel. If Jason’s words in the hall had been a punch to the gut, the way he smiled and the way Drew’s hand rested flirtatiously on his arm were a finishing combination blow.

“I think I’m going to leave,” Piper told Hazel, forcing herself to look away from Jason and Drew. “You should stick around, though. I don’t want to ruin your night.”

“No, let’s go together,” Hazel replied without a second thought. She reached for Piper’s hand again, threading their fingers and gently turning Piper away, toward the front door so they could make their escape.

 _Let’s go together_ , turned into, _let’s stay together_.

Hazel didn’t ask Piper about what had happened with Jason, but she came up to the apartment with Piper when they got back to the city. Despite the late hour, Bob was excited to meet a new friend, instantly throwing himself at Hazel for rubs and pets. Piper loaned Hazel some sweats to change into and the two of them crashed together on the couch with the pint of ice cream Piper had abandoned earlier in the evening.

Not staying home with that ice cream in the first place had been a mistake.


	107. Chapter 107

Three in the morning. Jason called Annabeth at three in the morning.

Her eyes stung as she looked at the screen, Percy grumbling beside her in their hotel bed at the disturbance, but not bothering to properly rouse. She almost dropped her phone while trying to accept the call. “Jason? Are you okay?”

“I fucked up,” Jason replied, words slurred and voice so saturated in sorrow the emotion was practically tangible, even over the phone. “God, Annabeth, I really fucked up.”

“Are you drunk?” she replied, groggy, but pushing herself up in bed. Percy stirred beside her, only enough to roll over and slip his arm around her waist in an attempt to drag her back down. To appease him she slipped her fingers into his hair and he pressed his face against her hip in return.

On the other end of the phone Jason laughed, the sound quickly turning into a groan. “Yeah, I guess.”

“You _guess_?” she repeated in disbelief, trying to clear the sleepiness from her mind so she could focus. “Walk me through what happened.”

“I went to that party we talked about,” he told her, groaning again almost immediately after. No other explanation was offered.

The party had been the perfect opening for them to debut Jason’s new playboy persona. He and Annabeth had discussed it at length, mostly through texts, over the course of the week. They decided Jason would go, be seen, have his picture taken at every opportunity to be plastered all over social media, act very drunk while actually only drinking a little, and cause a scene or two just to make sure people were talking about him the next day. The media or tabloids couldn’t be trusted to spread word of his antics on their own because Jove controlled so much of what went to print, but if Jason became notorious socially first, Grace Media Group competitors would eventually take notice and be glad for the chance to smear his name.

During their week of planning Jason had also gone in to start work on his new tattoo, but Annabeth suspected that had been more for himself than about the plot to overthrow his father. Sure, a lot of ink would help muddy up his pristine image where stuck up business types were concerned, but Annabeth had assured him plenty of times they could pull off their plans just fine without it. If he liked using the excuse to convince himself that small act of rebellion was acceptable, that was fine, but events like that party were much more effective tools.

Annabeth sighed when Jason’s silence dragged on. “You went to the party and what happened?”

“And Piper was there,” he said, then let out yet another wallowing groan.

Not sure she heard him right, Annabeth blinked into the darkness of the hotel room, her fingers momentarily stilling in Percy’s hair. The last she’d heard from Piper the evening before, there had been no plans for going to parties, especially not house parties in the Hamptons. After close to a minute of trying to play catch up, her mind kicked into overdrive and she checked to see if she’d missed any texts from Piper. She had not.

“Why was Piper there?” Annabeth demanded as soon as she put the phone back to her ear.

“With Hazel,” Jason said, the first actually helpful answer he’d given her since she picked up the phone.

“Okay, that at least makes sense,” she replied, her fingers getting back to their gentle stroking as Percy whined a complaint beside her. “You’re going to need to give me more information, though, Jason. More than two words at a time.”

A shuddering breath on the other end of the phone made Annabeth think Jason was not only drunk, he was crying, so she let him take a little time to formulate what to say. “I was so shocked to see her, so I chased her down to talk to her and it was all just– I don’t know. She said– And, God, then I… _Fuck_ , I can’t believe I said that.”

“That was certainly more than two words, but you still didn’t tell me anything,” Annabeth sighed, trying to be as patient and calm as possible. Her heart already ached, anxiety making her want to try texting Piper immediately, but Piper was probably asleep and Jason was already right there on the phone. “Start with what she said.”

“She said something about me running away from conversations,” he said, stumbling over the words in a mix of confusion and drunkenness. “She said that’s what I did when she broke up with me, I ran away.”

At the very least Annabeth now understood why they were less than five minutes into their conversation and already three Jason-fucks deep. Just that statement provided plenty for them to potentially unpack, but Jason was drunk and it was three in the morning. For the moment they were better served getting the whole story out and circling back under better circumstances in the next few days.

“Alright,” Annabeth replied, trying her best to balance firmness and compassion. “That was understandably rough to hear. What did you say then?”

“I didn’t mean it, I really didn’t,” he told her instead of answering, her suspicion he’d started to cry confirmed by the way his voice broke and the accompanying sniffles. “She just… God, she looked so _good_. I know how sexy she is, but it’s like one of those things, you know? You know what I mean? When your memory doesn’t do it justice? And at first it was okay. I didn’t think anything of it. I mean, I thought a lot of things of it, because how could I not? But nothing bad.”

If Jason hadn’t sounded so absolutely miserable, Annabeth might have found his rambling funny, maybe even cute, considering the sentiment behind it was so wrapped up in his adoration of Piper. Instead it just broke her heart. She’d never seen him drunk before – even in Montauk he’d cut himself off before he even got properly tipsy. In light of what she’d recently learned about his mother, she understood his reticence to overindulge in alcohol himself. Whatever had led him to this point must have been bad and, as much as her heart ached for Piper also dealing with the fallout of this confrontation, Annabeth’s heart ached for Jason, too.

“You said at first it was okay,” Annabeth pressed, a gentle attempt at guiding him through his own thought process. “What changed?”

“When she said I ran out that afternoon…” Jason started, heaving a bitter sigh. “Thalia said it hurt her when Reyna left after they broke up. She said she started dating again a month later. It’s been a month, Annabeth. And Piper looked so good. She looked so good.”

“So, you thought she was there to hook up with someone,” Annabeth concluded, her gut twisting. A lot of very ugly possibilities flashed through her mind, a disturbingly endless list of things Jason might have said to fuck up so royally he’d called her drunk off his ass at three in the morning. She would not be mad at him, no matter how bad it was, because he was hurting and anyone could say something stupid while they were mad. She told herself this several times before speaking again. “I know it’s hard, but you need to tell me what you said.”

“Earlier,” he said, and Annabeth had to bite her lip to keep from screaming at him to just say it, “she’d said something about leaving, told me to enjoy the party. So after she said that I just… I told her I was going to enjoy the party. And I told her she should stay. Fuck, Annabeth, I said I didn’t care what she did.”

Annabeth could admit that was rough. She could imagine Piper struggling profusely in the wake of Jason acting so callous. She could understand why Jason felt so terrible about what he’d said. It had been a bad night. She did not think it was call-at-three-in-the-morning and four-Jason-fucks-deep bad, though. A sober conversation when they’d both had time to cool off would absolutely allow them to clear this up, but that was probably the problem – Jason and Piper were not talking to each other, not honestly, not about the things they _should_ be talking to each other about.

“Jason?” Annabeth said, just to make sure he had his full attention.

“Yeah,” he replied, dejected and sniffling.

While the potential answers to the question frightened her, Annabeth had to ask, “What happened after that?”

“I went back to the party and Piper left,” Jason answered, apparently able to give straightforward responses now that he’d gotten the worst of it out.

“What did you do at the party?” she pressed, just to make sure he hadn’t done anything else he might regret come morning. If he had been worried about Piper hooking up, there was potential that _he’d_ hooked up in premature retaliation.

“Had a lot to drink,” he said, which Annabeth thought was a little obvious, but decided not to scold him for. “A lot of it is blurry. There were fireworks at one point. Burned my hand a little. And I think someone had a goose? Pretty sure someone had a goose. Had a lot to drink. Me, not the goose. Maybe the goose, I don’t know.”

She didn’t think, at this point, Jason would be able to avoid admitting to hooking up without sounding ridiculously guilty, so Annabeth breathed a small sigh of relief. Jason was an adult, single, and free to do as he pleased, Annabeth just didn’t think he would feel good about something like that once his head cleared. He and Piper had made themselves a pretty little mess, sure, but Annabeth felt confident it could still be cleaned up.

“Are you home now?” she asked, her eyes becoming heavy as her adrenaline rush started to subside.

“Uh-huh,” he grunted. “Just got here.”

“Good,” she replied, another concern mitigated. “Here’s what you’re going to do – get yourself changed and into bed. Don’t worry about what you said. We’ll figure all that out tomorrow. Just sleep your night off for now. I’m going to text Thalia to let her know you’re in bad shape, so she’ll know to check on you.”

Jason groaned yet again, whiny and childish, exactly what a little brother about to be ratted out to his big sister ought to sound like. “I’m going to be in so much trouble.”

“You certainly are,” Annabeth agreed, though she couldn’t help her reluctant smile.

“She hates me now, doesn’t she?” he said softly, defeated and despondent. 

The desperation in his voice made Annabeth question whether he should be left to his own devices until morning or if she should bite the bullet and wake Thalia up now. Drinking, the inhibition of intoxication, definitely allowed for a good time in moderation and under the right circumstances. Jason had not been drinking in moderation and these circumstances were terrible. As a depressant, alcohol would only compound his feelings and hopelessness. His best bet would be to sleep this off.

While Annabeth didn’t know yet how Piper was coping at the moment, she did know Piper well enough to be sure of one basic truth – and, she thought, Jason would know it once he sobered up, too. “Piper could never hate you, Jason. That’s just not possible.”

He grunted in reply, too lost in his own despair to believe that at the moment. “She should.”

“You should go to sleep,” Annabeth replied, allowing herself to sound a little annoyed, if only to push him to listen. She was a little annoyed – annoyed at both her dear friends who were being idiots, causing themselves problems where there didn’t need to be any. Once Annabeth returned home, she’d start putting more pressure on them to stop this absolute madness.

“Sorry I woke you up,” Jason said, another sniffle, another pitiful tone. “I’ll go to sleep now. ‘Night.”

After saying goodnight and ending the call, Annabeth pulled up her messages with Piper and typed out a few poor attempts at reaching out. Hearing from Jason before Piper was definitely a strange development, but Jason had told her Piper went to the party with Hazel. Hopefully that meant the reason behind the silence was not Piper once again shutting her out and instead simply because Piper had Hazel for comfort. Annabeth did her best to craft a message that sounded concerned, but not defensive, and then decided she’d leave any further investigation for morning. She would trust Piper.

“Is Jason okay?” Percy asked groggily, once Annabeth had set her phone aside, his voice muffled as he didn’t bother lifting his face from where it was nuzzled into her hip. Annabeth mumbled the affirmative, sliding back down into bed with Percy. His arms tightened around her, pulling her closer, making it clear she would not be allowed to get away from him again that night. “Why did he call you, though?”

Annabeth hesitated, dipping her head to hide against Percy’s shoulder. The plot against Jove remained a secret, not just from Piper, but from Percy, too. She felt guilty for keeping it from him, but Percy had enough on his plate. Jason agreed on that matter and also didn’t want to give Percy any extra stress ahead of the Olympics. Knowing it rendered her agreement with Percy on keeping Jason problems and Piper problems separate moot also added to her guilt. That, at least, she reasoned was not her fault, since Jason had been the one to come to her. The reasoning didn’t help much.

“He probably didn’t want to disturb your sleep before tomorrow,” she replied, not exactly a lie, but also not entirely the truth. Jason had called Annabeth because she was the one who knew about the purpose of attending that party.

Percy found that reason sufficient, though, humming in agreement and shifting slightly to find a more comfortable position. “You have a cute mom voice.”

“A cute _what_?” Annabeth asked, laughing into Percy’s chest.

“Mom voice,” he repeated, draping his leg around her as if preemptively preparing for her to try pulling away. “All bossy, but still kind of sweet and gentle. You’re definitely the mom friend.”

“You’re delirious. Go back to sleep,” she replied, laughing again, but only burrowing in closer to him. 

The next few weeks – probably closer to a month, since Percy would be staying at the athlete’s village even after they reunited in Rome – without him were not going to be easy. Annabeth couldn’t believe how accustomed she’d become to falling asleep this way, with the weight and warmth of his body enveloping her. In light of learning about his father, she also feared letting him out of her reach for so long, knowing there would be little she could do to help him if anything went wrong while limited to texts, calls and the occasional FaceTime session. He’d also be missing her birthday, which Annabeth thought was a really selfish thing to be upset about all things considered, but she still found herself feeling glum any time the thought crossed her mind.

There were more pressing concerns weighing on her mind with regards to Percy, too. Poe had gotten to him. Since failing to meet his own expectations in the 800 meter, Percy had been beating himself up. No one else held his second place finish against him, and he hadn’t said as much explicitly, but Annabeth could tell he considered it as good as a full on loss by his brooding silences and halfhearted smiles whenever someone had congratulated him. With his biggest event still ahead that weekend, Annabeth feared Percy might crack under the self-induced pressure, and she had tried everything she could think of to help him bounce back. He would have to figure a way out of his head on his own.

Annabeth wanted to spirit everyone away to some secret, deserted island. On that island they could force Jason and Piper to finally sit down and talk, free from the threat and influence of Jove Grace, with nothing to lose and everything to gain from honesty. Percy’s father wouldn’t be able to touch him, either. She wasn’t the type who usually thought about running away, but lying there, wrapped up entirely in Percy, the fantasy became all too appealing. In the morning she would be strong, stand her ground and provide the people she loved with the support they needed to navigate the reality they unfortunately couldn’t escape. Just the once, though, she allowed herself a moment of weakness.

“Love you, Beth,” Percy mumbled, voice so distant she wondered if he wasn’t already asleep, the words just so practiced and natural, so ingrained in his being, he didn’t even need to be conscious to feel or speak them. 

“I love you, too,” Annabeth replied, her eyes fluttering closed.

His breathing evened out in a matter of seconds, the shallow rise and fall of his chest made prominent to her as she rested her face against him. It took her a while longer to finally drift back to sleep, but she didn’t mind laying there, knowing they were safe for the moment, and wishing it never had to end.


	108. Chapter 108

Saturday morning, Piper woke sprawled out on the couch with Bob curled up in her lap. She hardly even remembered falling asleep. Hazel had been on the other end of the couch, that much Piper remembered, but was no longer there. Instead, Piper could hear movement behind her in the kitchen. When she sat up enough to look behind her, she found Hazel at the stove, bobbing her head to a tune only she could hear and flipping pancakes. Apparently everyone Sally Jackson had played a hand in raising knew this skill.

“’Morning,” Hazel called, breaking into a grin as soon as she noticed Piper sitting up. “I hope you don’t mind me using the kitchen. I’ll clean up when I’m done. Oh, and I already made sure Bob got his breakfast.”

“No,” Piper replied immediately, offering Bob a few head scratches when he looked up at her indignantly for daring to move and disturb his sleep. “No, I’ll do the clean up, don’t worry about it.”

Hazel grinned at her for a few more seconds before whispering, “Crap, it’s burning,” and deftly flipping a pancake with her spatula. 

The night before came back to Piper slowly as the drowsiness cleared from her head. She wished it had been a dream, a different kind of nightmare than the ones she’d grown so accustomed to the last month and a half, but Hazel being there making breakfast proved her memories had to be reality. Piper had really seen Jason, really talked to him, really said that terrible and selfish thing about blaming him for leaving. Of course he had lashed out in response. He was honestly a saint for not saying _more_.

First thing after blinking away the last of her sleepiness, Piper reached for her phone. She needed to tell Annabeth what had happened, but she didn’t know if that was a conversation for text or if she should wait to reach out in a call after Hazel left. Apparently there was no need for that debate, because Annabeth had already texted Piper first.

 **ANNABETH (04:43AM)**  
jason called and said you two ran into each other last night  
the way he told it, things got a little rough  
you ok?

Chewing on her bottom lip, Piper considered the message. The fact that Jason had called Annabeth, or possibly Percy, didn’t entirely surprise her, though the time that text had come in kind of did. More than about his call, Piper wondered what story he’d told, what that series of events had looked like from his perspective. Her heart ached as her own words played through her mind yet again, her confusion and frustration coming out at the worst possible moment and in the worst possible ways. Annabeth was probably already pissed at her for subjecting Jason to that outburst.

 **PIPER (09:14AM)**  
kind of  
i dont really know  
hazel is here now, stayed over

It was only eight in Omaha and Piper didn’t know if Annabeth would be awake. Probably, considering Percy had his preliminary for the 1500 in a couple hours. That also meant Annabeth would likely be too distracted or busy to see Piper’s message any time soon. Instead of staring at her phone, hoping for it to buzz, Piper picked Bob up off her lap and set him on the floor so she could get to her feet and head into the kitchen.

“I made coffee, if you want some,” Hazel offered, nodding her head to the coffee machine on the counter. “You guys only had decaf, though.”

“Yeah, we’re a no caffeine household at the moment,” Piper confirmed, flashing a small, appreciative smile in Hazel’s direction. The scent of coffee did have the nice effect of picking Piper up in the mornings, even if she never had any herself. Her morning drink of preference was now orange juice, which she quickly poured herself a glass of.

There were already two plates with nice stacks of pancakes on the counter beside Hazel, fluffy and golden brown. Piper’s stomach rumbled shamelessly in response to the sight and Hazel didn’t even try to hide her laughter. “I figured you’d be hungry, since all we had last night was ice cream.”

“I really am,” Piper said after all but chugging her juice. “Thank you for staying last night, by the way.”

“I wouldn’t have wanted to be alone in your shoes,” Hazel replied with a shrug. When she set the final pancake on the plate closest to her, Hazel turned to give Piper her full attention. “If you want to talk about it, we can, but you don’t have to, either.”

Piper wasn’t sure how to answer that, whether she wanted to talk to _anyone_ about what had happened the night before or not. “I think I just need some food in my stomach right now.”

No objections were spoken by Hazel, who smiled wide and helped Piper bring plates, syrup and orange juice to the dining table for them to eat. Rather than talk about the night before over their meal, Piper asked about Frank. Hazel filled her in on how he had been fairing while cramming for his exams. It gave her a little comfort to hear Frank actually enjoyed the content, at least as much as anyone could enjoy stuffing their brain full of information in a desperate bid to pull off a good grade. From the way Hazel spoke, it sounded like Frank was excited about the prospect of law school, too. Whether he would actually do as his grandfather hoped and pursue a political career someday, Piper didn’t know. Another issue for another day.

They were only halfway through their meal when Piper’s phone finally buzzed on the table beside her. Piper apologized for the interruption, but couldn’t wait to see what Annabeth might have to say.

 **ANNABETH (09:55AM)**  
glad you have hazel  
I’m here if and when you need me  
sorry I’m not there right now

 **PIPER (09:57AM)**  
don’t apologize  
it’s my own stupid fault

 **ANNABETH (09:58AM)**  
you’re not stupid

She stared at her phone, again gnawing on her bottom lip as she considered what to say. It didn’t seem like Annabeth was angry. That did ease Piper’s anxiety a little, though she wasn’t sure why Annabeth wouldn’t be absolutely peeved at her for lashing out at Jason that way. With a painful pang to her chest, she realized Jason very well hadn’t painted her in a poor light.

 **PIPER (10:02AM)**  
what did jason tell you?

“Sorry,” Piper apologized to Hazel again, setting her phone aside even though she really wanted to sit and stare at that screen until a reply came. Burying her nose in her phone was rude, regardless of the situation.

Hazel had just finished her pancakes, shaking her head as she settled back in her chair with a mug of coffee in her hands. “I’m sure she’s worried about you. I’ve noticed Annabeth is a lot like Percy in that regard.”

“Really?” Piper asked, a small smile playing at her lips despite her own nagging thoughts. She knew well enough what a worry wart Annabeth could be, but the idea of someone else having noticed it over such a short period of time amused her. Although, Piper had also noticed as much about Percy, too.

“It kind of surprised me about her,” Hazel mused, nodding. Piper understood that surprise. Annabeth usually didn’t come off as particularly warm or caring to new people, but that side of her lingered just under the surface. “I had this really bad day once, like just one of those days where everything goes wrong at once, and I showed up to lunch practically in tears. Annabeth noticed first, even though I was trying to hide it. We’d only gone to lunch like three or four times at that point, so I didn’t know her well yet. She got this scary look on her face and for a second I thought I’d done something wrong – seriously, with the way my day had been going that would have made sense – but instead she just asked what was wrong.”

Piper laughed, surprised it came to her in the wake of her terrible night. “I know that scary look she gets really well. I think it’s because she kind of wants to murder whatever or whoever hurt you.”

“Murderous is definitely the word I’d use,” Hazel agreed, laughing as well. “It felt really good, though, to be noticed and cared about, especially by someone I’d only just met. I’m sure the guys would have noticed eventually, but still.”

Before Piper could think of a reply, her phone buzzed. Hazel nodded immediately, encouraging Piper to check it before she could so much as flash an apologetic smile.

 **ANNABETH (10:08AM)**  
that you both said a few things you probably didn’t mean

For a minute or so Piper considered what she’d said the night before. Saying she didn’t mean what she’d told Jason would be a lie. While she didn’t feel good about the blame she unfairly put on Jason, she’d been honest in the moment. Piper _had_ meant what she said. Watching him walk out that afternoon in May had hurt. She had been the one responsible for both of their pain, Piper knew that, but this particular irrational feeling could not be denied.

 **PIPER (10:10AM)**  
i’m not sure we didn’t mean it

 **ANNABETH (10:11AM)**  
you know better than to think jason doesn’t care what you do

Piper stared at her phone in confusion. She definitely thought they were talking about what _she’d_ said the night before, not what Jason had said. Jason’s response had been understandable. It had stung, and the obvious lashing out had come as a shock, but Piper knew he’d only been reacting to the blow she’d delivered first. In the morning light, she _did_ know better than to think Jason didn’t care what she did. If anything, Piper knew he cared too much, more than she deserved after all she had done.

 **PIPER (10:13AM)**  
of course he cares  
i know he was just feeling defensive

 **ANNABETH (10:14AM)**  
then what do you mean?

Struggling to find the right answer, Piper set her phone aside for a moment, a weight on her chest she wished she could ignore. Admitting, even to Annabeth, she had _meant_ those venomous words was too much. Piper had felt nothing but selfish for over a month, and somehow the people she loved had continued to see beyond that selfishness. If she were to speak aloud (or at least in text) such proof of her selfishness, they wouldn’t be able to make any more excuses for her.

“Is something wrong?” Hazel asked, her head tilted to one side, voice offering confidence without applying any pressure.

Sally had told Piper she needed to forgive herself, but now she wasn’t sure she could. Piper didn’t feel like she’d earned any forgiveness. The night before she’d earned the opposite – Piper had earned resentment, a lasting grudge both from Jason and herself.

A lump formed in her throat, the half a plate of pancakes she’d eaten turning to lead in her stomach, and she leaned forward to rest her forehead in her palms. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Take a deep breath,” Hazel instructed, and Piper had no strength to oppose the command. When Piper had taken that deep breath and slowly exhaled, Hazel had her take another. Then another. Five deep breaths in total passed before Hazel finally asked, “Better?”

Piper straightened back up, taking stock of her physical state. “I think so,” she confirmed, finding solace in the simple fact she no longer thought she was going to puke pancakes all over the kitchen table.

“I was thirteen when Sally taught me to make pancakes,” Hazel said, drawing Piper’s attention away from herself and from that dangerous train of thought she’d been riding when she almost lost control. “She said everyone should at least know how to make a decent pancake, so for a week over that summer she’d have me get up early with her so we could practice. I burnt a lot of pancakes that week, and I remember feeling so guilty every time because it seemed wasteful, you know? They were so bad even Percy couldn’t stomach them. But, eventually, I stopped burning them. Most of the time.”

“Most of the time,” Piper repeated, confused by the sudden story, but smiling just the same. “I never learned to make pancakes. Or anything, really.”

Hazel considered her for a few seconds, eyes narrowed just slightly, and then she smiled. “I’ll teach you.”

“What?” Piper replied, going wide eyed.

“Right now,” Hazel said, getting to her feet and beginning to clear the table. Piper felt bad for not having finished eating, but Hazel said nothing about it. When Piper just sat in her chair, stunned, Hazel laughed and returned to grab Piper by the hand and drag her into the kitchen proper. “Come on. You can eat what we make as leftovers tomorrow or something.”

“I should reply to Annabeth,” Piper said, glancing back at her phone and the question still left unanswered.

Shaking her head, Hazel pulled out her own phone and began to tap away. “I’m texting her right now not to worry. We’re making pancakes and you’ll talk to her later.”

The finality in Hazel’s voice, the command with which she delivered that instruction, surprised Piper but left no room for her to object. Before she knew it, they were collecting the same ingredients Hazel had used earlier and beginning to make pancake batter. Hazel did nothing but stand at Piper’s side and give instructions while Piper carefully measured out dry ingredients, then milk. Eggs proved a difficult task, because Piper dropped little chunks of shell into the mix while she tried to crack them. Under Hazel’s very patient tutelage, she managed to pick them out, then it was on to melting butter in the microwave and mixing everything together.

Piper’s first several pancakes were disasters. The very first one she flipped straight out of the pan, the uncooked side splattering all over the counter where it landed and getting batter on Hazel. They laughed and Piper tried again. The second pancake didn’t end up out of the pan, but it folded in on itself when she chickened out in the middle of flipping it. The third pancake Piper simply burned before she even managed to try flipping. The fourth also ended up burned, but it was her first successful flip and Piper beamed with pride all the same. When the fifth one ended up on the counter the same way the first had, Piper started to think she’d never get this pancake thing right.

Number six flipped perfectly, and Piper managed to get the timing right, removing it from the pan when it had turned a gorgeous shade of golden brown.

“I did it,” Piper said, staring at the pancake on the plate beside her like she’d never seen a pancake in her life before. It seemed stupid to feel so accomplished over something Hazel had mastered at _thirteen_ , but Piper’s chest still swelled with pride. “I made a pancake. From scratch.”

“You made a pancake,” Hazel confirmed, her grin laced with just as much pride as Piper felt. “Now make another.”

Making another did not prove so easy. Most of the mistakes Piper had made initially were repeated in various combinations during her subsequent attempts, but every time she failed, Hazel laughed and Piper couldn’t help laughing along with that sweet sound. It didn’t take her too long to manage a second pancake, though. Her third success took a little longer, but then she got her fourth on the very next try. Piper made five pancakes in total before they ran out of batter.

“That was an abysmal attempt,” Piper mumbled, looking at the lumpy and misshapen pancakes she’d managed to cook correctly. They were done, and probably edible, but they were not pretty.

Hazel shrugged, leaning against the counter and looking at the unusual stack of pancakes fondly. “You did it, though, and now you know how.”

“Will you write the recipe down for me?” Piper asked, poking at her pancakes and feeling another wave of pride at their fluffy and wiggly texture. If they tasted half as good as they smelled, she’d consider it the greatest achievement of her life.

“I don’t know,” Hazel said, suddenly very serious. “This recipe is actually a big family secret, not the kind of thing you can just write down. I’ll have to ask Sally.”

“Oh,” Piper replied, but she didn’t have enough time to be properly startled before Hazel was bursting into laughter. Joining her in that laughter, Piper reached out and gave Hazel’s shoulder a gentle shove. “You really scared me! I thought Sally was about to storm in here with one of those _Men in Black_ memory wipers or something.”

At the mention of _Men in Black_ Hazel’s eyes lit up. “Have you seen the new one of those they made?”

“No,” Piper admitted, turning to begin cleaning up the absolute mess she’d made in attempting to cook those five pancakes. The original _Men in Black_ only barely passed Piper’s litmus test about not watching recent blockbusters. “Is it any good?”

“It’s decent,” Hazel answered, immediately joining in on the clean up process even though most of it, aside from the initial dishes Hazel had created while cooking breakfast, had been Piper’s doing, “but I would watch Tessa Thompson do just about anything and Chris Hemsworth is pretty easy on the eyes, too.”

A smile pulling at Piper’s lips, she started rinsing down dishes to prep for the dishwasher. “Can I make a confession?”

“Of course,” Hazel said, eyeing Piper cautiously, apparently not sure whether Piper’s _confession_ was something silly or the more serious issue of what had happened the night before. 

The answer to that question was definitely on the silly side. “I have never seen a single movie Chris Hemsworth is in.”

“ _What_?” Hazel nearly shouted, almost dropping a plate in her shock. They both laughed as she juggled it for a few seconds, managing to catch it at just the right moment.

While they tended to the dishes, Piper explained how she’d managed to go her entire life without seeing a single superhero film made after the nineties. Surprising even herself, Piper even admitted to the reason she stayed away from those big budget films – her own father’s involvement in so many of them. Hazel seemed to understand, or at least didn’t think she was a freak for avoiding even the ones that didn’t star her own dad the way most people tended to.

Once the dishes were loaded and the dishwasher hard at work, Hazel asked about taking a shower. Piper showed the way to the guest bathroom and provided all the items Hazel would need. After that, Piper finally returned to the table to grab her phone. She felt better, more grounded, and supposed that had been Hazel’s goal with the sudden distraction of that story and the subsequent pancake lesson. Admitting to her selfishness was not going to be easy, but Piper felt ready to bite the bullet.

 **PIPER (12:07PM)**  
sry i kinda lost it there  
i was talking about what i said to jason  
part of me does blame him for leaving that day

 **ANNABETH (12:09PM)**  
of course you do  
anyone would be hurt by that

Reading that text made Piper suddenly need to sit down and she plopped herself into the dining chair. The response had come so quickly, the words so blunt and unquestioning, not the faintest hint of judgment. Piper had been expecting a lecture, disappointment.

 **PIPER (12:13PM)**  
blaming him isn’t fair tho  
there was nothing else he could have done  
if he had stayed or tried to argue with me, it would’ve been worse  
i put him between a rock and a hard place  
none of that is his fault

 **ANNABETH (12:14PM)**  
and you know that

 **PIPER (12:15PM)**  
yeah, but that doesn’t change the way i feel  
wait when does percy swim?

 **ANNABETH (12:17PM)**  
he’s in the last heat, doesn’t start for like an hour  
piper, you know you’re allowed to be hurt, right?

 **PIPER (12:19PM)**  
there’s being hurt and then there’s holding it against him

 **ANNABETH (12:20PM)**  
ok, so the way you told him sucked  
but letting him know how you feel isn’t holding it against him  
if anything, you NEED to tell him these things  
both of you should be honest about how you feel  
in a better setting than the middle of some stupid party, but still

In a handful of texts, Piper’s entire worldview had flipped. Annabeth didn’t think she was selfish, or at least didn’t think less of her for that selfishness. If anything, Annabeth had validated the way Piper felt. It still begged the question of what exactly Jason had said about their encounter – him not painting her as a villain was completely in character, but she still couldn’t fathom he hadn’t at least been angry.

The bathroom door opened and Piper looked up to see Hazel walking out, fresh faced and content from a nice shower. Spending the rest of her day doing nothing substantial with Hazel sounded a lot more appealing than continuing to think about everything she felt and what she should and shouldn’t be doing. Piper realized that meant she was doing the exact thing she had accused Jason of the night before. She was running, hiding.

 **PIPER (12:26PM)**  
we can talk about this more once you’re home  
i think i’m just drained right now  
let me know when percy finishes his race

 **ANNABETH (12:28PM)**  
will update when he’s done, then  
i love you

 **PIPER (12:30PM)**  
love you too

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dropping in to say merry christmas!
> 
> i also wanted to apologize for the fact i haven't replied to comments on the last few chapters. 😭 i've read them all and they mean so so much to me, things have just been a little crazy this last week between some personal stuff and the holidays.
> 
> have a great day, everyone. see you monday!


	109. Chapter 109

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter contains explicit content.

There was a very strong possibility Annabeth was going to be ill.

Alone in the stands at the CHI Health Center, it was hard for her to sit still. Saying she was alone wasn’t entirely fair, considering several of Percy’s NYU teammates were there with her, but Annabeth could only just barely consider them acquaintances. Knowing they were there to support Percy made her happy, but, in that very stressful moment, their presence didn’t do much to assuage her anxiety. Instead of trying to make conversation with any of them, she could only chew on her lip and stare out at the stadium before her, legs crossed and foot bouncing in the air.

The massive stadium played host to everything from NBA games, to rock concerts, to monster truck rallies. The floor could be pulled away to reveal an Olympic sized pool – which was the case that very moment – or turned into a rink for hockey matches and figure skating shows. LED screens displayed ads for event sponsors around the different levels, while the jumbotron hanging from the middle of the domed ceiling listed the names and lanes of the competitors who had qualified for the next event. _Percy’s_ event, the one he held the world record in, the 1500 meter Freestyle, would be starting in a few short minutes.

No one had doubted Percy would qualify for the finals. Annabeth had wondered once how he handled that kind of pressure, knowing every expert, coach, athlete and spectator watching _expected_ victory from him. In the last few days, though, she started to worry whether he was really handling it at all. After finishing second in the 800 Free, Percy had been exceptionally critical of his own performance. Speculators online weren’t too happy about it either, but it was easy enough for them to write off his subpar time as a fluke, just a bad day. Better to get such a lackluster swim out of his system before Rome, anyway. Annabeth, however, knew there was more to it.

Since the confrontation with Poe, Percy had been on edge more often than not. Annabeth had been doing her best to distract him, keep his spirits up. Sometimes she thought she was actually pulling it off – like when they’d gone out for dinner Friday night and Percy had spent a disturbingly long time on the phone with Piper talking about minions, loud, all smiles as he stuffed his face. No matter how successful she was at cheering him up short term, sooner or later he defaulted back to the brooding silence which had become his new normal. 

Percy was stuck in his own head and no one could get him out of it but himself.

Their seats were fairly close to the floor, so Annabeth spotted Percy emerging from the locker room before the jumbotron even showed his face. He wore his purple NYU zip up and black sweats over his trunks. His airpods were in his ears. Annabeth knew exactly what playlist he was listening to, had become so familiar with the songs on it that she could practically guess which one he was listening to from the way his head bobbed. She liked to think she would recognize him even if she had been sitting in the nosebleed section, from his lazy and confident gait, the line of his shoulders or the wavy black hair on his head, not yet covered by a swimming cap. 

He was in need of a haircut, his locks especially shaggy the last week. He should have had it trimmed before they left for Omaha. Annabeth doubted he’d go get it done while he was away training, so she’d have to remind him over the couple days they would have back in New York before he left. If she didn’t, she’d be hearing him complain about how long it was getting over the phone his entire time away. Thinking about that small thing she might be able to have some influence over helped overcome the worst of her nausea for a minute or two, then a booming voice came over the sound system announcing the start of Percy’s race and it all came roaring back.

From the time the starting buzzer sounded to the moment Annabeth would finally be able to breathe again, roughly fourteen and a half minutes would have elapsed, and Percy would have swum fifty full pool lengths.

Annabeth wished she could be down there with Percy as he tucked his hair into his cap, stripped down to his swim trunks, and shook out his body to loosen up in preparation. When they’d said goodbye a couple hours before, she’d kissed him several times and done her best to remind him of how wonderful he was. He’d tried to act like he was fine, smiling and laughing and telling her she was being ridiculous, but she could tell he’d been scared. Whether he was scared of failing or doing well and drawing even more attention to himself, she wasn’t entirely sure.

The final was being aired on TV, as the final heats had been every night that week. It was a small consolation to Annabeth knowing their friends and family were all out there watching from home. In the eternity that seemed to span from the moment Percy first walked out to when the swimmers finally took their positions at their blocks, she soothed herself by imagining what everyone else might be doing – Piper curled up on the couch with Bob; Sally, Paul and Estelle crowded around the TV in their cozy apartment, Estelle shouting every time Percy’s face popped up on screen; Jason, Frank and Hazel at the Grace tower, Frank thankful for the short excuse to take a little time out of studying; Cal and Leo in their new, tiny apartment in Massachusetts, boxes still stacked around them from their move. All of them (save for Bob, of course) would be there with Annabeth the next time Percy competed.

When the buzzer sounded and Percy shot into the water, Annabeth’s stomach all but dropped to the floor. Her eyes stayed locked on his lane, following his movements as he glided through and finally broke the surface again. This event was a slow one, a jarring contrast between it and the short sprints most people associated with competitive swimming. Even compared to Percy’s other events, which were considered longer distances in the grand scheme of things, it was long, daunting, and physically demanding.

Less exact physical technique was required to be successful at such distances, but the mental component remained critical. Down in that pool, Percy was taking constant stock of his physical condition, tracking laps, and trying to gauge where the other swimmers stood in comparison to him. He would have to decide when to put on speed and take the lead. Too early and he might drain himself too much to maintain a competitive speed once he had his advantage. Too late and he put himself at risk of not being able to overcome whoever might be ahead of him. Annabeth respected swimmers who honed technique to perfection in order to excel at sprints and short distances, but the strategy and planning that went into every one of Percy’s races left her in complete awe of him.

Taking a lead in the first few minutes was always helpful, but not entirely necessary, so Annabeth didn’t let herself get too worried when Percy only came in second the first two times he touched the wall. Stamina and endurance would be the deciding factors, and Percy had plenty of both. It was what he worked for, what he spent all those hours every day in the pool to gain.

Everyone competing worked hard, Annabeth knew that, but it didn’t stop her bias from kicking in and making her think Percy worked _hardest_. He deserved it the _most_. The difference between Annabeth and Percy was that he could run himself into the ground working for something and still not think he deserved anything, while she believed with her whole heart he deserved the world. If he couldn’t believe that, she would have enough belief for the both of them.

Close to three minutes into the race, Percy overtook first place. Despite knowing there was no need to worry, she had been on edge until he finally hit the wall first among his competitors. Over eleven minutes still remained in that race, and anything could happen, but seeing his name first on the leader board proved a small comfort.

In Rome this anxiety would likely be much worse. Percy’s biggest competition was international, not there that day in Omaha. More was on the line that evening, though. If Percy wasn’t victorious, even if he took second and still qualified to swim again in Rome, it would feel like _Poe_ had won. A loss would signal Poe had shaken him. Annabeth feared Percy wouldn’t be able to bounce back from that easily, if at all, especially not when he had to spend the next several weeks working closely with the man.

Before long, though, all of Annabeth’s worry turned to awe. Each time Percy hit the wall and took a turn, his lead widened. The other racers slowed, falling victim to fatigue, but Percy propelled forward through his lane with all the ease of his very first lap. That wasn’t just Annabeth’s perception of time passing as she relaxed changing, either – the splits between each of Percy’s laps remained consistent. The water itself might as well have been pushing him forward, or restoring his strength just as fast as he could expend his energy. 

An artist – Annabeth had thought that the first time she watched a video of him swimming, sitting on a bus and shocked by her own discoveries. Every time she’d seen him in the pool after, she’d thought the same thing. In the months since, and even watching him in his races earlier that week, she’d never believed in his artistry more solidly than when he was ten minutes in and gliding through the water like it was air.

Forget a body length or a second or two of lead time. When Percy finally came in for the finish, he was an entire pool length ahead of second place, almost a full half minute passing before the next swimmer caught up. It was as if she could breathe again after days of feeling like someone was trying to smother her. Percy had done it, and he’d made it look easy.

Annabeth had been so engrossed in just watching him that she hadn’t been paying attention to his time. She noticed his smile first, even from the distance of her seat she could see him shining brighter than any star in the night sky. Seeing that smile made her so happy she could have cried, and she did a little, until she finally looked up at the leader board and registered Percy’s time – then she did _a lot_. 

Percy had finished just three tenths of a second short of his world record time. Any other day she might have worried Percy would be upset about coming so close and missing the mark, but she knew how much keeping up with his old record would mean in the light of the week he’d had. He had not lost his edge. Not even Poe had been able to take that from him.

The next couple hours passed in a blur. Percy had post race interviews to complete both on the floor and in the locker room, then had to get himself cleaned up and dressed and, undoubtedly, receive countless pats on the back from his fellow swimmers and competitors. Waiting for him was exhausting, if only because she spent that time practically bouncing with her own excitement, and as soon as he walked out of the locker room, Annabeth threw herself at him. His arms caught her, lifting her a couple inches off the ground. and he spun her in a circle, laughing with a lightness she hadn’t heard in days. Then he was kissing her.

She kissed him back for a long time, melting into him with pride and happiness and relief. When she broke away, she kissed his cheeks, his nose, his forehead, every inch of his face, until his smile threatened to split his entire face in half and he had to push her away to keep from being entirely embarrassed. There were a few photographers there outside the locker room to catch the athletes leaving and they had snapped plenty of pictures of that little reunion. Annabeth was so overcome with contentment, she didn’t even care if she ended up plastered all over the news, or Twitter, or any of it.

“I’m so proud of you,” she finally said, breathless.

“I noticed,” he replied, his cheeks painted red but his smile unfading.

“What do you want to do to celebrate?” Annabeth asked, not yet ready to pry herself away from him, even with so many eyes on them.

Percy thought about it very carefully. Last time he’d won this very competition there hadn’t been anyone special for him to celebrate with, and considering the added burden Poe had put on Percy’s shoulders earlier in the week, Annabeth wanted to make sure he could enjoy his victory and everything it meant. His hard work had paid off. The time he’d spent conflicted about whether or not he was going to compete had not ruined his chances. Even Poe hadn’t been able to get in the way of Percy and what he was meant to do.

“I want,” Percy finally started, his arms secured around her waist, voice low enough no one could potentially overhear, “to go back to our room and take a shower. Together. Then I want to eat seventeen bacon cheeseburgers. After that I’d like one of those massages you’re so good at giving until I fall asleep.”

Considering he stunk of chlorine, Annabeth was definitely a fan of the shower idea. “Maybe not seventeen bacon cheeseburgers, but I think we can pull the rest of it off.”

Prying themselves apart, they turned toward the small crowd of assembled photographers, reporters and spectators. Working their way through the masses took a little time, mostly because Percy stopped to greet every single fan who asked for his attention, his face glowing red and his smile bashful. Someone in the locker room must have prepared him for the onslaught, because when the first request for an autograph was spoken, Percy pulled a pen out of his hoodie pocket and began to sign away. Annabeth gave him a little space while he interacted with his adoring supporters, but every minute or so he would glance back at her and a tidal wave of warmth would crash over her entire body.

When Percy got to the edge of the crowd, he threw an arm around Annabeth’s shoulders and shouted a few _thank yous_ while waving a final goodbye. She tucked herself into his side, arms wrapped around his waist, and a minute later they were on their way through the stadium and toward the tunnel that connected to their hotel. A few more times along the way people called out to or stopped to congratulate Percy, but he refused to be stopped for more than a few seconds each time.

It had to have been a miracle that they managed to catch an elevator on their own in the bustling hotel lobby, and Annabeth truly thanked her lucky stars when, as soon as the doors closed, Percy turned and pushed her up against the wall. Her stomach dropped for the second time that night as the elevator shot up and he claimed her lips with an aggressive hunger. Another knot of anxiety melted away in her chest, because this had been another thing Percy struggled with in the later half of their week in Omaha, while his confidence had been shaken – he’d been clingy and affectionate, but hadn’t initiated sex himself and shut down her advances as well.

Elevator rides were not long enough for satisfying make out sessions, but Percy used those seconds effectively to light a fire in her. He handled her a little roughly, his tongue demanded entry into her mouth and, when Annabeth let out a slow and quiet sound of appreciation, his hips rolled against hers and she could feel through his sweats that Percy was just as affected. The degree to which winning made Percy horny really had been a learning curve.

Neither of them were interested in pulling apart when the elevator dinged to announce they’d reached their floor, so Percy and Annabeth stumbled out together. She fumbled around in her purse for their room key, gauging where they were in the hall based on how many steps she estimated it took to get from the elevator to their door. He kept his hands on her, alternating between practically tripping over her feet, his duffle bag swinging from his shoulder, and desperately trying to stay pressed against her. Their kiss was a mess of colliding teeth and teasing tongues and Annabeth couldn’t get enough of it.

Percy seemed confident they were at the right room when he turned and shoved Annabeth up against the door, so she trusted his judgment. Trying to unlock the door backwards proved difficult, and after two failed attempts with the card she began to doubt whether they were in the right spot. On the third try the lock beeped to signal she’d succeeded, she grabbed the handle and pushed it open behind her, and together Annabeth and Percy fell inside.

They both dropped their respective bags the instant they were through the door and then Percy had her against the wall again, not even all the way into their room. His lips broke from hers then, scalding hot as they dipped against her jaw and inched toward her neck. Her head fell back against the wall, Annabeth struggling for breath and not at all minding she couldn’t catch it.

Behind the safety of a closed door, their hands moved to start stripping each other. Percy’s NYU hoodie went first, then Annabeth’s blouse. She grumbled about him wearing too many layers as she fought to get his t-shirt off a second later and the way he laughed, deep and throaty, against her skin had her beginning to melt on the spot. Thankfully his sweats were easier to peel off, and Percy got his turn struggling against the button and snug fit of her jeans. As he fought against them, she slipped her hand into his hair and tugged to direct his face back and kiss him again.

She wanted to kiss him – hot and a little sloppy, just enjoying each other – forever. She wanted to feel his hands on her bare skin – trailing up her thighs after finally pushing her jeans and panties down – forever. She wanted to stay in that room – a room that was theirs together and theirs alone – forever.

His hands moved around her back to begin unhooking her bra while his lips started leaving another trail of burning kisses down her neck, and she felt Percy smile against her skin. In a swift, rough motion, he had that bra tugged off, then his hands were on her newly bared breasts, kneading and teasing in that trademark way of his that always left her weak in the knees and wanting more.

“Are we not going to shower?” she asked when he finally broke their kiss again.

“Not yet. I want you against this wall first,” he replied, voice low and inspiring all sorts of butterflies in the pit of her stomach. Having her naked and effectively pinned, Percy straightened back up and looked down at her, lips pulled into a lopsided grin. “Is that alright?”

“Percy,” she said, meeting his gaze brazenly as her hands slid down his torso slowly, until her fingertips brushed along the waistband of his underwear and she felt him shudder, “you can have me anywhere you want tonight.”

“Is that so?” he replied, eyebrows raised, his cocky little smile transforming into a full on grin.

“It is,” she confirmed, her entire body on edge from anticipation. 

Pride over what he’d accomplished that week, and especially that night, filled her with the desire to spoil him. Annabeth loved Percy more than she could ever truly explain, felt it from head to toe, all the way down to her bones. In less than forty-eight hours she would have to see him off at the airport and be without him for over three whole weeks. He could have her anywhere he wanted because she wanted him to have her _everywhere_ before they left that room the next morning.

“Are we sure that’s only a tonight thing?” Percy teased, leaning his forehead against hers and dropping one hand from her chest, sending shivers up her spine as his fingers dragged lightly down her stomach. That hand slipped between her legs, fingers sliding through her center tentatively, and when they finally found her clit she took a sharp breath.

Her hands moved as well, one slipping into his underwear to wrap her fingers around his erection, and the other trailing back up so she could hook her arm around his neck and hang onto him for support. Sensing what she needed, Percy’s other hands dropped from her breast as well, slipping around her waist to secure her in place. A little more stable, she met his eye again just to tell him, “Shut up.” They both knew he was right. He didn’t need to gloat.

At the moment, Percy seemed happy to follow her instruction, because he leaned down again to catch her lips instead. His lips moved with the same aggression as his fingers, working hard and quickly to drive her to the edge and draw whines and sighs of pleasure out of her, into their kiss. In return, her hand teased him as best as she could within the confines of his underwear, but with much less intention – stroking him gently, her thumb teasing the tip of his cock. She was pretty sure he didn’t want her getting him off like that, anyway.

Annabeth was painfully close to climax when Percy had the audacity to pull away, something she had no qualms complaining about. He didn’t say anything, just flashed her another lopsided grin while he took a few steps back. It took her a couple seconds to realize, in the haze of pleasure, to realize he wasn’t just torturing her. Percy slipped into the bathroom across from where she leaned against the wall, appearing a second later with a tiny packet in his hand.

That wall behind her proved a godsend in those seconds it took him to procure a condom and slip out of his own underwear, because Annabeth wasn’t sure she could have stood on her own. Her eyes tracked each of his movements closely when he rolled that condom on, chest heaving as she used that time to catch at least a little of her breath. It was difficult when the sight of him was so delicious, and when the high his fingers had taken her to combined with anticipation to make her head light and whole body hot.

“You’re so fucking sexy, Beth,” Percy said, making her eyes snap to his face. From the intensity in his eyes and how wide his pupils were shot, she got the impression he’d been watching her just as closely.

“I think you need to look in a mirror,” she teased in return, letting her gaze trail down his body again.

A beat of silence and inactivity gave Annabeth pause, because she really thought he would have been on her after that brief exchange, and when she looked up at his face again she found a tentative, excited expression had joined the lust that had been pure and overpowering a few seconds before. When his smile continued to widen, her own excitement only grew to match it. “Change of plans.”

Percy wasted no more time closing the gap between them, not even giving Annabeth a chance to ask him what he meant before he’d bent down enough to hook his hands behind her thighs and pick her up. Her arms and legs wrapped around him instinctively, a bubbly laugh exploding from her chest. Instead of pushing her against the wall, though, he started deeper into the room, flicking the main light on as he went. He moved to the room’s single dresser and the question of what he was doing died on her tongue. Above the dresser hung a large mirror.

Setting her back on the floor, Percy’s hands gripped Annabeth’s hips and firmly turned her around. His chest and erection both pressed against her back and he wound his arms around her. Annabeth’s eyes fell on their reflections in the mirror – his face beside hers, right above her shoulder, one of his hands coming around to fondle a breast – and she found him drinking in the sight just as intently as she did. They made a nice picture, even if she did say so herself.

Annabeth rested her palms on the dresser in front of her, using it for support so she could lean forward slightly. In the mirror she saw Percy’s smile widen again in reply to her very obvious invitation. He pressed his lips to her shoulder while his free hand slipped between them to guide himself inside her. It took a great deal of self control to keep her eyes open as he filled her, her lips just barely parted. The effort was worth it as she watched the expression of contented relief on Percy’s face, like that first press inside her eased real, physical pain. Maybe it did, because the ache of longing she’d felt before that moment had been a little painful, too.

Once he’d settled inside her, Percy straightened up. Both his hands moved to her hips, fingers digging into her skin to take firm hold of her. His eyes held hers captive in their reflection, dark and full of want, leaving her stomach simultaneously tied up in knots and completely bottomed out. She was intent on watching every second of this, committing the sight to memory, and coming back to it again and again over the course of the next three weeks. There was no doubt in her mind that he felt the same.

Between the earlier groundwork he’d laid and the fact that she was a little desperate after days of barely being touched, it didn’t take long for Annabeth to start back toward that edge of release once Percy began to move. His pace started slow, allowing her just enough time to adjust to his size before he became desperately relentless. They maintained eye contact while he fucked her, pants and moans and whimpers filling the room along with the lewd sounds of their bodies colliding.

Watching themselves was strange, but surprisingly enjoyable. Her focus remained mostly on Percy, the flush of his face and the hint of a smile still playing at his lips, though there were things about herself she couldn’t help taking note of as well – the way her breasts bounced with each of his thrusts, her hair matting against her neck and forehead, and the color that also spread from her face and down her neck to her chest. She liked it, seeing how equally undone they were quickly becoming, and knowing Percy saw it all just as clearly as she did.

In her own impatience to reach release, Annabeth slipped a hand between her thighs. She saw Percy follow the motion in the mirror, heard the string of obscenities he mumbled in approval, and that expression of approval only made the pleasure coursing more violently by the second through her veins that much sweeter.

Not much more than that was required to push Annabeth to her orgasm. When it hit, she had to drop her hand back to the dresser for the extra support while her legs flexed and seized, and, despite all her best attempts to keep them open, her eyes pinched closed. Percy’s fingers dug harder into her hips as he continued to pound into her, echoing the strangled cry she let out with a string of loud moans of his own, movements turning more erratic by the second and sending residual waves of pleasure through her that dragged her climax on several more seconds.

Just in time to watch him finish, she managed to pry her eyes open again. She drank in the sight of his brows pushed tight together, forehead wrinkled, and mouth twitching as it hung open. Even after he finished and stilled, she couldn’t take her eyes off him, committing those first moments in the wake of their orgasms just as deeply to memory as the image of sex itself.

Once he’d eased out of her, Annabeth turned around to face him, resting against the dresser to finally, actually catch her breath. Percy pressed his body against hers, hot and covered in a thin layer of sweat, and leaned in to kiss her softly. She returned that kiss, a slow and lazy display of mutual satisfaction, arms winding around his neck to pull herself a little closer to him.

“I’m so proud of you, Percy” she said, once they’d broken their kiss to relax against each other.

Percy hummed in acknowledgment, brushing his lips against her cheek, then the tip of her nose, and finally her forehead. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Leaning back just enough to look at him, she shook her head. “You would have. Don’t sell yourself short.”

“How do you always have so much faith in me?” he asked, eyes shining with wonderment as he scanned her face.

Even though her legs were still a little like jell-o, Annabeth risked pushing up on her tiptoes so she could catch his lips in another, gentle kiss. “Because I know how strong you are, and I know how much you love what you do,” she replied, settling flat on her feet again. “Me being here might have made it easier for you, and nothing makes me happier than being able to do that for you, but you still would have made it on your own.”

“I love you,” Percy said, ducking his head slightly, bashful, but his voice full of an adoration she couldn’t deny even if she’d wanted to. “I love you so, so much, Annabeth Chase.”

“I love you, too, Percy Jackson,” Annabeth replied, tugging him down so she could plant another peck on his lips. “You really stink of chlorine, though.”

“Let’s take that shower we discussed earlier, then,” he suggested, and before she could say anything else, he’d once again bent down to scoop her off the ground and carry away to the bathroom.

They took a very long shower, making the most of the fact that such big hotels never ran out of hot water. Percy had a disturbing amount of energy for someone who’d just swum a little under a mile at record breaking speeds and it wasn’t long before his lazy, affectionate touches turned demanding and heated. Annabeth was happy to put that energy to good use and remind him, yet again, exactly how proud she was of what he’d accomplished. 

After they’d had their second round of fun for the night, they opted for a soak in the bath. Annabeth got an early start on that massage Percy had requested, working the muscles in his shoulders and back she had no doubt were on their way to becoming sore. Before long he laid back against her chest and she simply wrapped her arms around him so he could doze until the water turned cold and their fingers pruney.

“Okay, so, how many bacon cheeseburgers _can_ I have?” Percy asked, once Annabeth had managed to drag him out of the tub.

“I’m not the boss of you, Percy, you can decide for yourself,” Annabeth replied with a laugh. 

She lay on her stomach, sprawled out on their shared bed, flipping through the room service menu while Percy wandered around the room doing some preliminary packing for the following morning. A strange part of Annabeth was sad they were leaving the next day, that she was going to have to give up this small space they’d shared equally. That thought confused her, especially since she’d had it twice in relatively quick succession now, and also because they spent most nights together when they were back home. Her room felt practically as much his as her own, and she felt equally at home whenever they stayed at the brownstone.

Percy grinned at her from the desk where he had left his phone to charge. The thing had been ringing off the hook since he’d turned it back on after their bath, though only calls and messages from his immediate family and closest friends had been replied to. All the others could wait for tomorrow. “But if I decide for myself I’m going to have seventeen of them.”

“If you think you can eat seventeen bacon cheeseburgers without either throwing up or dying of a heart attack on the spot, go for it. I’ll even record it, because I’m sure Leo will want to see,” she told him with another laugh. The idea of so much meat was actually making her feel a little nauseous, though, and Annabeth zeroed in on the menu items that included none for herself.

As seconds passed and Percy didn’t reply, Annabeth looked up from the menu to find him staring at his phone with his brow furrowed. “What is it?” she asked, her heart jumping to her throat. He was not supposed to wear an expression even remotely close to that one on this very special evening. It was a night for smiles and laughter, and maybe a little more of the sweet sound of his moans, once they had food in them. They were supposed to be celebrating, and maybe their celebrations were lazy ones, but the right to do so had been hard earned.

“It’s Poe,” Percy answered after several more seconds of silence, running a hand through his hair and taking a few calming breaths. “He wants to have dinner.”

Annabeth was on her feet in a second, practically storming around the bed to where Percy stood so she could look at his phone over his shoulder. “I’m sorry, what?”

“He said he’s got a suite here and just finished up for the night,” Percy explained, holding the phone up for Annabeth to see. There was nothing more in the text than what Percy had already relayed, but Annabeth still couldn’t believe what she was hearing until she read the words herself.

“Tell him to fuck off,” she insisted, stepping back and crossing her arms.

“I can’t tell him to fuck off, he’s my coach now,” Percy replied, though the look in his eye told Annabeth he very much wanted to do that exact thing. It was certainly what the guy deserved.

While he had a point about not telling Poe to fuck off, Annabeth still wasn’t keen on this interruption to their plans, and the effect that message was having on Percy’s mood. “Be nicer about it, but you have every right to tell him no. It’s not like he’s inviting the whole team out to celebrate or something. He’s singling you out. You don’t want to be treated differently than any other swimmer on that team. Set your boundaries. Be firm.”

“Look at you, talking about setting boundaries with so much confidence,” Percy teased lightly, a small smile pulling at his lips. Considering she was being completely serious, she didn’t appreciate the lighthearted reply, but she was glad to see him smiling again all the same.

“Tell him you’re busy tonight,” she pressed, stepping closer to him and hooking a finger into the waist band of his sweats. He hadn’t bothered with a shirt. She hadn’t bothered with pants. These were things she felt no shame in using to her advantage, if it meant saving Percy from forcing himself into an unhappy situation.

Percy swallowed hard, glancing back down at his phone before looking Annabeth in the eye. The short lived mirth in his expression had already faded, even with her weighted insinuation. “What if I want to say yes?”

That was not a possibility Annabeth had anticipated, though she supposed she should have, based on her own recent experience attempting to connect with her birth mother. Percy’s situation wasn’t so different – his father’s identity hadn’t been a mystery, but it might as well have been for how much distance had been between them all those years. Poe hadn’t tried to bridge that distance when they’d come face to face the year before, though. If anything, more damage had been done after their first meeting, and then again earlier that very week. Annabeth felt wholeheartedly that Poe was unworthy of a relationship of any kind with Percy, but it wasn’t her decision to make. It was Percy’s decision, and she would support him regardless of her own feelings on the matter.

“If you really want to say yes, then you say yes. We get dressed and we go up to meet him,” she replied, abandoning her poor attempt at seduction to instead reach up and cradle his face in her palm. “You can freak him out by ordering seventeen bacon cheeseburgers and I can freak him out by not brushing my hair. It’ll be fun.”

“Not brushing your hair might be a little too freaky,” Percy said, and her heart melted a little at the way he smiled back at her, telling her she’d somehow found exactly the right words to reassure him. He stared at her for a few more seconds, her thumb brushing his cheek while she smiled back, and then he dropped his phone back on the desk. “It’s weird, but I don’t think I’m going to see that text until tomorrow morning.”

Annabeth wrapped her arms around him and pushed up on her tiptoes. “Well, you were very busy all night celebrating being the greatest swimmer in the country.”

“I think it has more to do with my girlfriend forgetting pants exist,” he objected, his arms winding firmly around her waist as he took a step toward the bed, Annabeth following his lead, still on her toes.

When they fell back onto the mattress together, Annabeth brushed her fingers through his still damp hair a few times, searching his face for any sign of doubt. “You’re sure you don’t want to go?”

“The only person I want to be with tonight is you,” he assured her, leaning down enough to brush his nose against hers. “You and your terrifying unbrushed hair.”

Giving him the briefest peck on the lips and pretending those words hadn’t made her heart feel like it could very well explode right out of her chest, she reached over her head where she’d left the room service menu. “Okay, but I’m really hungry. Can we order dinner first?”

“Have I ever told you, you’re the woman of my dreams?”

He had told her that, quite a few times, actually. Annabeth didn’t mind hearing it again, though. Percy was the man of her dreams, too.


	110. Chapter 110

Piper had never been so excited to be home. The minute she walked through the front door on Monday night she tossed her bag to the ground, kicked off her pumps and threw herself at Annabeth on the couch, not even caring that Annabeth seemed to be in the middle of something, with her iPad out and a few magazines strewn around her. 

“I missed you so much. Never go away again.”

“You’re wrinkling my sketchbook,” Annabeth complained in return, reaching under Piper’s ass to either retrieve or protect said sketchbook.

Leveraging herself up just enough for Annabeth to get the endangered item free, Piper held tight all the same, laughing as Annabeth choked lightly from the strangling she endured. “Did you get it?”

“I got it,” Annabeth breathed in relief, holding the pad up.

“I _missed you_ ,” Piper repeated, squeezing Annabeth that much tighter now that all was safe.

Annabeth finally let out a laugh, her arms slipping back around Piper so the two of them could settle comfortably into each other. “I missed you, too.”

“No, you didn’t,” Piper said, a grumpy whine in her voice. It was probably the most immature thing she’d ever said or thought, but she put her insecurity to words anyway, because she didn’t want to hold it back, and because she knew Annabeth would forgive her for it. “You had fun and enjoyed not having to worry about me all week.”

“Was being sick last week not enough?” Annabeth asked, slinging an arm around Piper’s neck in a choke hold. “This week you want me to beat you up, too?”

“Yes,” Piper replied, and then she got exactly what she wanted. 

Latched on to Piper, Annabeth attacked without reservation, but instead of any actual violence, all of Piper’s ticklish spots were targeted. Each time Annabeth’s fingers found another, Piper screeched in objection, but Annabeth’s hold on her was far too strong and, try as Piper might, there was no escape. Flailing and tickling continued until the two of them rolled off the couch and crashed to the floor, Piper knocking her head on the coffee table in the process. Annabeth laughed then, deciding Piper had suffered enough, and gave up the attack.

“Don’t laugh at me, that hurt,” Piper complained, sitting up and rubbing her head where she’d smacked it. They made enough ruckus to summon Bob from wherever he’d been off napping, as suddenly the kitten was there, crawling all over them, putting himself right in the middle of what probably looked to him like a lot of fun. He wasn’t entirely wrong about the fun.

“Maybe it’ll knock some sense into you,” Annabeth said, sticking a finger under Piper’s armpit and making her writhe in agony all over again. “Of course I missed you, and I still worried about you the whole time I was there. If anything, it was worse, because I couldn’t do anything to help you myself.”

Hearing those words meant more to Piper than they should have. She was in great need of affirmation after her week alone, the roller coaster of emotion that those days and nights without Annabeth’s presence had turned out to be. The last week had felt both like it lasted an entire year and like it went by in a blink. Several times Piper’s imagination had taken over, picturing the inevitable time when Annabeth would move out to start a life with Percy. That day would come, Piper was sure of it, and when it did she would be happy for her best friend, but that didn’t stop her from hoping it was still a while off. She wasn’t sure she could survive on her own just yet.

“Is Percy not here?” Piper finally asked, glancing around the apartment, still rubbing the sore spot on her head.

Annabeth shook her head, reaching out for Bob and smiling as he attacked her hand. “He has a lot of packing to do before tomorrow, so he went straight back to the brownstone. He’ll be back when he’s done, but who knows how much longer that’s going take.”

Piper’s own insecurities fell to the wayside while taking in the expression on Annabeth’s face – sadness, worry, frustration. Percy would leave the next day for his training camp and Annabeth wouldn’t see him again for close to three full weeks. Even then, her time with him would be limited while they were in Rome and most of his focus remained on competition. This was a hard day for her. It would he a hard few weeks.

“Are you going to be okay?” Piper asked, reaching for Annabeth’s hand not already occupied by a viscous kitten.

“Yeah,” Annabeth quickly replied, marshaling her expression and shaking her head. “I’m fine. It’s just three weeks, not the end of the world.”

No matter how carefully Annabeth presented herself, Piper could see right through those defenses to the truth of the matter. “When was the last time the two of you went a day without seeing each other?”

For several seconds Annabeth struggled to find an answer, her brow furrowing and her lips turning into a pout, and then a very angry frown. It was adorable, and Piper missed seeing those subtle expressions of annoyance just as much as she’d missed Annabeth’s support over the last week. If anything, she’d found that support in other places, somewhat surprising places, and missed these little quirks more. What Piper had not missed was the way Annabeth let that kitten gnaw on and scratch at her hand, though. Hopefully he realized that was an Annabeth only activity, because Piper did not want puncture wounds and scrapes all over her hands.

“I think the last time was March, and even then it was only a couple days,” Annabeth finally admitted, heaving a grumpy sigh. “Before that, it was probably when I went to San Francisco – except no, because I saw him the day I left, and then I came back the next day and saw him again. That means, since our first date we’ve only ever gone two days without seeing each other. God, are we really that clingy?”

It was hard not to laugh at the dismay on Annabeth’s face, but Piper held back and shook her head. “Spending so much time with each other isn’t a bad thing. The fact that you two haven’t driven each other insane by this point probably means you’re soulmates. It’s still completely fair if you’re a little anxious about the time apart.”

“I’m worried about him,” Annabeth said softly, unable to meet Piper’s eye and focusing her attention on Bob instead. “The next few weeks are going to be hard for him and I’m not going to be able to do anything to help. He’s been there for me through everything the last six months and now, when he’s the one who needs me, I’m helpless.”

“You’re not helpless,” Piper insisted, though she remembered the feeling all too well – not knowing what to do to support Jason when he had been faced with the glum reality of his future. Even still, Piper felt the same way to some degree, unsure what to do and when to do it, constantly battling her own self loathing, and not knowing whether her choices could even make a difference for the people she loved. “That reminds me,” she added, giving Annabeth’s hand a squeeze, “I need to tell you something.”

The seriousness in Piper’s tone was enough to draw Annabeth’s attention. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Piper said, managing to smile. “At least nothing new is wrong. I just owe you an apology.”

“For what?” Annabeth asked, even more taken aback. The fact Annabeth didn’t immediately think of all the many things she was owed an apology for only made Piper love her that much more. For years she’d wondered how deep her love for a single person could go, and for years Annabeth had proven there was no limit.

Piper struggled not to laugh again, though this time it would have been entirely at herself. “For the whole last month – not telling you immediately about Jason’s dad and that file, not listening when you told me I needed to tell Jason, getting mad at you when you didn’t get mad at me and trying to punish myself instead, putting you through having to get me out of jail, even just for last Friday. Really, Annabeth, the list is endless at this point.”

“You were kind of stupid this last month,” Annabeth agreed, though there was only warmth in her voice, along with the tiniest hint of teasing. “It’s understandable, though. You had a lot to work through.”

“Does that mean I have your forgiveness?” Piper asked, a little scared of the answer. Deep down she knew Annabeth would always forgive her, the way she would always forgive Annabeth, but at the moment that knowledge was buried _very_ deep under her guilt. Whether she could manage to forgive herself remained up in the air, but maybe that would come a little easier if Annabeth was willing to forgive her first.

Still holding hands, Annabeth lifted hers to once again poke at that tender spot under Piper’s armpit. “It means there’s nothing to forgive.”

“Stop tickling me, then,” Piper whined, a shiver running up her spine even after Annabeth had retracted her hand again. 

Annabeth laughed, so pleased with herself Piper half wanted to strangle her, then scooted a little closer to lay her head on Piper’s shoulder. Bob had grown tired of wrestling Annabeth’s hand, so she scooped him up and deposited him in her lap, where he started to give himself a bath. “Should we talk more about Friday?”

“I’m not sure,” Piper admitted, glad she no longer had to try making eye contact. “I know you want me to talk to Jason, and I know you’re probably right about me needing to, but it’s just… not that easy.”

“You might surprise each other,” Annabeth said gently, playing with Piper’s fingers.

On that, Piper agreed, though she didn’t think Annabeth meant it exactly the same way. Annabeth thought they would surprise each other in good ways. Piper and Jason had certainly surprised each other the last time they spoke, but in very _bad_ ways. “What exactly did he tell you about Friday?”

“I think that’s something he should get to tell you himself,” Annabeth said, leaving no room for argument in her tone. “When you’re both ready to talk. Which should be soon, if you’re not both idiots.”

Piper was pretty sure they were both idiots, so she doubted they would be talking any time soon. “I’ll think about it.”

Annabeth’s nod of understanding was felt more than seen. “There’s something I need to ask you, though.”

Just like that, the tables were turned, and it was Annabeth’s seriousness giving Piper pause. “Why are we both being so ominous today?”

“You started it,” Annabeth replied, and though Piper couldn’t see her face, the frown was evident in her voice. Any lingering doubt about how much Annabeth missed Piper faded away, because she would never be this whiny and affectionate if she hadn’t been just as starved of best friend time as Piper felt. “Although, I am a little scared asking you this is going to set back the progress you’ve made.”

There was only one thing Annabeth might need to know about that would risk setting Piper back. “I don’t think it will, but you know how I feel about telling you anything else I saw in there.”

“I do,” Annabeth confirmed, her voice a little distant. She was sorting through her thoughts, probably trying to figure out how to phrase her question so as not to put Piper in a bad situation. Once she found her words, she lifted her head to look Piper in the eye. “All I need to know is whether you remember there being anything about Poe Stoddard in that file.”

The name sounded familiar enough. After a few seconds of thought Piper realized it was because she’d heard it so many times over the course of the week while watching Percy’s competitions on TV. Making that connection also reminded her of the man’s face, which had been shown plenty of times and always made Piper feel like she’d been forgetting something. At the time she’d figured it was because he was just one of those people who was on TV all the time, a semi-household name, but with Annabeth’s question the memory came barreling back to the forefront of Piper’s mind – a name scribbled under a picture with a few notes about Montauk and dates from a little over twenty-three years before.

“Oh my God, is he–”

“He was in there, wasn’t he?” Annabeth interrupted, before Piper could get the question out.

“Did you know before?” Piper asked, her mind still struggling to put the details together. She was an idiot, just plain _stupid_ , for not making the connections earlier, even with all the other information she’d had to process that night. For once Piper wasn’t even trying to beat herself up, there just wasn’t any denying her own idiocy for missing so many obvious clues.

Annabeth shook her head. “No one knows, at least no one is supposed to. Percy said the only person Sally has ever told is Paul.”

“There was definitely something in there about him,” Piper confirmed, and though she was staunchly against sharing any of the information she’d seen in that file, she suddenly wished she could remember _more_. 

“Piper, we have to tell him,” Annabeth said, imploring, desperate, scared. So few times over the years had Piper ever seen Annabeth afraid of anything, but there was no other explanation for what was in those usually startling and intimidating gray eyes.

Chest constricting, a surge of protectiveness coursing through her veins, Piper rose to the challenge of Annabeth’s fear. After a month of nothing but failing her best friend, of running away and trying to hide from something there would be no actual escaping, she refused to let herself be a helpless victim any longer. “I’ll do it if you think it’s what’s best, but are you sure this wouldn’t just put more pressure on him? Even if Jove decides I’ve done something he doesn’t like, odds are he’d start by targeting someone closer to me, like my dad, or, God forbid, _you_. Telling Percy right now could cause a lot more problems than it would potentially prevent.”

The fear in Annabeth’s expression only deepened, mixing with something akin to actual despair. Piper didn’t know exactly what had happened in Omaha with Percy and Poe, but she did remember watching him on that TV screen, failing to perform as well as the commentators expected in the middle of the week and clearly disappointed in himself over it. If he’d already been shaken by his situation once, it could happen far too easily again, and it might be enough to spook him entirely. Percy had almost given up swimming for less once before, too. He was so close to making his dreams come true. Keeping secrets hadn’t worked well for Piper the last month, but she couldn’t help wondering if this truth might really be better off unspoken, and it seemed Annabeth was entertaining the possibility just as seriously.

“This is how you felt, wasn’t it?” Annabeth asked, letting out a strangled laugh and rubbing her palms against her eyes. “Like you were suffocating? Or being crushed? And if you made one wrong step, everything else would be crushed, too?”

“Partly,” Piper said, not envying Annabeth’s first foray into the madness that had been her emotional state the last month. “More than that, it felt like those cartoons where there’s a hole in a dam, so someone sticks a finger in it, only for another hole to pop up a second later. Sometimes I still feel like all I’m doing is sticking fingers in new holes, putting off the inevitable of the whole dam bursting for a few more, pointless seconds.” 

Lips pressed tightly together, Annabeth stared at Piper, some of that fearful desperation fading from her eyes – and then she burst out laughing. 

“I’m sorry,” she said, trying to get the words out between gasps, but every time she tried to look at Piper the laughter only doubled again. “I know you were being serious, and it was such an apt metaphor, but–” Annabeth cracked up again, laughing so hard she fell back onto the floor. 

All Piper could do was stare in disbelief. This was it. Annabeth had lost her mind.

“ _Sticking fingers in new holes_ ,” Annabeth finally managed to force out in a wheeze, her voice strained and high pitched. “Oh my God, _Piper_.”

“ _Annabeth Chase_ ,” Piper chided, unable to believe Annabeth, of all people, had just lost her mind over something so juvenile. She was also a little shocked she hadn’t heard it herself first. As Annabeth only laughed louder, Piper slapped her best friend’s thigh a few times. “It’s a good thing you and Percy are going to be apart for a while. He’s turned your mind to absolute filth.”

“I love you,” Annabeth said, when her laughter had faded to mostly just giggles, “and I’m sorry I didn’t understand how much pressure you were under. It seemed so obvious what you should be doing from the outside, but I think I get it now.”

There was no need for Annabeth to make that apology, but Piper was grateful for it all the same. She knew she’d made mistakes the last month. Several decisions were on her shortlist of life’s greatest regrets. Despite all of that, Annabeth’s validation made Piper believe she hadn’t failed quite as spectacularly as she’d thought. “Do you know what you want to do?”

“I don’t,” Annabeth confessed, some of the fear returning to her voice. “Keeping this from Percy sounds like a terrible idea, but telling him seems like it would be just as disastrous, especially when he has to leave _tomorrow_.”

“Maybe there’s a third option,” Piper suggested, just as soon as the thought came to her. 

Annabeth looked up at Piper from the floor, confusion coloring her features. “What third option?”

“Sally,” Piper said, feeling more certain of her idea by the second. The biggest mistake Piper had made was trying to handle everything on her own, not using the rich resource the people who loved her represented. Percy was their greatest concern at the moment, but he wasn’t the only one involved in this situation with Poe, and Piper could say with confidence there was no one in the world who loved Percy as much as his mother. “Tell Sally first. Let her help you decide what and when to tell him.”


	111. Chapter 111

Phase one was easy, almost too easy compared to the other two phases of Annabeth’s day.

Early Tuesday morning she and Percy met Jason for breakfast. It was his birthday, the first day of July, but since Percy had to leave in just a few short hours and Jason had familial obligations that night, they had opted for the simple, casual celebration just the three of them.

Annabeth didn’t say it, didn’t even let on what she was thinking, but she felt especially sorry for Jason that morning. The day was supposed to be a celebration of him, spent with the people he loved, but the party being thrown for him in the evening was an impersonal, social event with a high class guest list and very few people Jason even liked in attendance. His birthday was being used for show, to keep up appearances and prove all was well for the infamous Grace family despite recent incriminating headlines and rumors. 

The silver lining – Jason planned to use the evening to cause a ruckus. Jove had handed him a prime opportunity to act like a fool in front of family friends and business partners. That didn’t mean it sucked any less that Jason had to give up his birthday, though, when he should have spent the day being with people and doing things he loved.

He should have been spending the day with Piper, but Jove had taken that from him, too.

She supposed, as they chatted over eggs, bacon and pancakes, she understood why Jove Grace had chosen his youngest son to take on the family mantel. Jason was impeccable. His record spoke for itself – good grades through his entire academic career, excellence in team sports, graduation with honors from NYU, not a single blemish on his record in all of his twenty-three years. For a family under so much scrutiny, and already widely disliked, his boy next door good looks and gentle nature would have gone a long way to recovering what reputation had been harmed in recent months if Jason hadn’t decided to go rouge.

“I was thinking we could plan on leaving on the twenty-first,” Jason said, toward the end of breakfast. He and Percy had done most of the talking, about everything from what Percy was expecting in the coming weeks, to local sports, to the haircut Piper had given Percy the night before. “That would give us all a couple days to recover from our jet lag before the opening ceremonies and your first qualifier.”

Percy nodded, his expression thoughtful. Despite how thankful he was to Jason for taking care of basically all the expenses relating to their trip to Rome, talking about it still made Percy awkward. Accepting the offer, all joking about private jets aside, had not been an easy thing for him and his pride. “I’ll double check with my parents and Leo, but that should work.”

“Let me take care of all that. You focus on getting ready for later this month. I’ll talk to Sally and call Leo, then get back to Jason tomorrow,” Annabeth offered, an arm resting on his shoulder as she played with the freshly trimmed strands of his hair. As much as the longer style had been driving Percy crazy, Annabeth had liked the look on him, and she kind of missed those gentle waves and curls. Someday she might have to try to convince him to grow it out.

Looking between Jason and Annabeth, knowing neither of them would allow objections, Percy sighed. “I owe you both big time for this. I don’t know how I’m ever going to thank you.”

“You don’t owe us anything,” Annabeth assured him, just as Jason said, “Don’t worry, I’ve got a few ideas.”

“Fuck you,” Percy snapped back at Jason, though a smile had returned to his face and Annabeth could feel his shoulders shaking with laughter. The teasing from Jason, she supposed, was easier for him to stomach than any heartfelt reassurance.

The boys fell into teasing each other as the three of them finished their meals – specifically, Jason teasing Percy about how he was now _older_ and therefore in charge for the next month and a half. Annabeth wanted to stay longer, and she got the impression both of them did, too, but Percy’s flight would not wait and Jason also needed to get to work. Goodbyes were said on the sidewalk outside the bistro and Annabeth pretended not to notice the slump in Jason’s shoulders as he walked to where his town car waited, parked down the block.

Neither Annabeth nor Percy commented on Jason’s dejection. Instead, Percy pressed a kiss to her forehead, a quiet reminder that not all was terrible in the world, and they climbed into Bessie to get on their way.

In a lot of ways Jason was better than he had been in a long time. Instead of ignoring texts and rejecting calls, he answered them, and even sometimes sent them himself, though initiating conversations had been uncommon for him to begin with, so Annabeth decided to let him off the hook there. Whether he was managing his new job well, she wasn’t sure, but she didn’t want to push him to talk about anything he wasn’t comfortable with. His confrontation with Piper had not been brought back up, at least not with Annabeth. She hoped that meant he had decided to talk either with Thalia or Percy about it, not that he had decided to simply internalize what he was feeling.

They had plans to meet over the next couple weeks so Annabeth could show Jason her design proposals for his bedroom and bathroom remodels, and also to continue plotting new ways for Jason to act up in public. She’d also promised Percy to keep an eye on him as well as she could in the coming weeks. Jason had Thalia, Reyna, Frank and Nico, of course, but she and Percy felt their own kind of protectiveness over him. Percy being in another state wasn’t going to change that.

Phase two came much too quickly for Annabeth’s liking, and it was significantly harder than phase one had been.

“Do you have your Dramamine?” Annabeth asked, her voice muffled as her face was buried in Percy’s chest, her arms wrapped snugly around him. On his insistence, only she was seeing him off at the airport. He’d tried to convince _her_ not to go, but Annabeth had told him that would happen over her dead body and only over her dead body, so he’d given up.

“Yep,” Percy answered, his arms holding her just as tight and his face pressed into the top of her head.

“You’ll call every night?”

“No matter how late.”

“And text when you wake up in the mornings?”

Percy laughed, the sound so warm and soothing it made her cling tighter to him, hating that she was about to have to let him go and not hear that beautiful sound in person again for close to three whole weeks. “You’re worse than I was when I had to let you go to San Francisco.”

Annabeth pulled back enough to look at him, just so he could see the unamused, thin line her lips were set in. “That was a much shorter trip and we were a lot less in love then.”

“ _Less_ in love,” he repeated. “Are you admitting you were in love with me even all the way back then?”

“You have a flight to catch, this is not the time for that conversation,” Annabeth replied, her cheeks suddenly feeling warm as she pushed him away – though only as far as her arms could reach, catching his hands to hold on a little longer.

Continuing to cling to him was a mistake, because Percy only used that as an advantage to tug her back into his arms. “Give me just this one thing, as a going away present so I can think about it instead of being anxious on the plane. When did you start falling in love, really?”

“When we met for coffee,” she admitted, unable to resist anything he might have requested of her that morning. If he’d asked her to move heaven and earth itself, she would have done so without a second thought. “I said I wasn’t ready for anything and I expected you to either give up entirely or try to convince me to give in. You said you’d wait instead and what was, before that, mostly just attraction and vague interest, became something different, something deeper.”

Percy didn’t reply. Instead he leaned down to press another kiss to her forehead, then both her cheeks, and finally settle on her lips. Annabeth could feel it, like some kind of sixth sense, that this was their goodbye kiss. Once they pulled away, he would leave, and she wouldn’t get to kiss him again for weeks. The sensible part of her mind knew she couldn’t just keep him there forever, but the irrational part of her that was always in control where Percy was concerned spoke much louder, so she did her best to try. She kissed him deep and slow, tasting the subtle remnants of pancakes and syrup on his lips and tongue, pressing herself against him and memorizing every little detail of that moment long past what was socially acceptable for a public kiss.

“Are you going to be alright?” she asked, breathless and heart aching, when she was forced by the cruel reality of time to finally pull away.

“As long as I have you in my corner, I will be,” he answered, just as breathless, and with a tenderness in his voice that made it harder than was fair to let him leave.

“You will always have me in your corner, Percy Jackson.”

Without another word, he brushed his lips against her forehead a final time and then he let her go. 

Annabeth stood at security and watched him wait in line, looking back every few seconds and smiling at her. She saw him take his shoes off, pull his laptop out of the backpack serving as his carry on, then have to go through the metal detector three times because he first forgot about his phone in his pocket, and then about some quarters in another pocket. Where those came from, Annabeth had no idea. Percy never carried change. 

It didn’t really sink in that he was leaving until he waved to her one last time and finally disappeared around a corner toward his gate. After that, she cried.

As hard as phase two had been, phase three was a challenge unlike any other.

After giving herself about an hour to collect her emotions at an airport coffee shop, Annabeth got behind Bessie’s steering wheel and drove herself over to the Jackson-Blofis apartment. Sally knew to expect her, though Annabeth hadn’t told Percy she was actually _going over_. Until she’d discussed everything she needed to with Sally, Annabeth didn’t want to let Percy know there was even the potential something was amiss. Telling him about that stupid file over the phone wasn’t ideal, but she’d take that with the confidence of Sally’s opinion behind her over telling him in person and regretting it.

There was a lot to be said about the healing power of Sally Jackson’s smile. Annabeth’s sadness over saying goodbye to Percy began to fade just as soon as Sally opened the front door to her apartment, wearing a short sleeved blouse and a pair of jeans, curly brown hair hanging loose over her shoulders. Even a little of Annabeth’s anxiety ebbed, as if it held no power in a place as safe and welcoming as Sally’s presence and home.

“Thank you for letting me come over,” Annabeth said as Sally wrapped her up in a bear hug. Warmth began to spread through Annabeth’s chest, slowly seeping into her extremities, and the urge to cry returned, though this time from relief and not sadness.

None of the intimidation Annabeth once felt in regards to Sally remained. Over the course of the last few months they’d slowly become familiar with each other, largely because Percy and Annabeth came by every other Sunday to have lunch with Sally, Paul and Estelle. On those lazy afternoons, Annabeth had become very comfortable both in the Jackson-Blofis apartment and with Percy’s family, getting to know his parents and learning more about what life with a five year old involved. The first time she witnessed one of Estelle’s temper tantrums, just about everyone had been mortified, but Annabeth had felt in that loud and mildly horrifying moment like she really belonged.

Sally held Annabeth for several seconds, much longer than a hug meant just for greeting, and Annabeth appreciated every second of it. “I was happy when you texted. Did Percy get on his way alright?”

Annabeth nodded, holding a little tighter to Sally to keep her heartache at bay. “He had to go through the metal detector three times at security, though.”

Hearing Sally laugh was yet another form of therapy, even as she finally released Annabeth and stepped back. “I’m honestly just thankful he let you go with him at all. He’s such a baby about not letting people do things like that with him.”

“I didn’t really give him a choice,” Annabeth admitted with a laugh of her own. “Are Paul and Estelle home?”

“They’re on a daddy-daughter date,” Sally answered, starting toward the kitchen and talking over her shoulder. “Your text made it sound like a little privacy might be in order, so I asked Paul to take her for a late breakfast and then they’re going to head to the Children’s Museum.”

Considering privacy was definitely in order, Annabeth pushed aside her disappointment at having to miss out on some quality Estelle time. Sally had made it clear Annabeth was welcome there whenever she wanted while Percy was away, so another day she would have to come out and do some living room fort building, and maybe even take Estelle out on a day adventure of their own. It still shocked her how much she enjoyed spending time with Estelle, and that her apparent skill with kids was something it had taken so long to learn about herself.

In the kitchen, Sally served a fresh batch of blue chocolate chip cookies and coffee, apparently prepared in advance just for this visit. Annabeth loved Sally’s coffee almost as much as the cookies. It was always made exactly to her taste, dark and robust, the scent as much a treat as the taste on her tongue. Sally knew Annabeth took it black, too, no longer even bothering to ask before serving her a steaming mug. She was supposed to be skipping caffeine for Piper’s sake, but considering the stressful day she was having, she decided to allow herself to cheat.

Once they were seated, there was no beating around the bush. Sally asked as gently as possible why Annabeth had needed to talk and Annabeth decided to bite the bullet. She felt guilty for confessing she knew the secret of Percy’s birth father, but Sally didn’t seem bothered. If anything, she looked like she expected Annabeth to know that secret, nodding and not questioning how and when Annabeth found out. Piper had given Annabeth full authority to tell Sally everything, so that was where Annabeth spent most of her time, detailing that meeting Piper had with Jove, the file he’d showed her, and the threats so clearly made against just about everyone they knew.

When all was said and done, Sally seemed _relieved_. Confusion must have been written all over Annabeth’s face, because Sally laughed and reached to cover Annabeth’s hand with her own. “Honestly, I was half expecting you had come over today to tell me you were pregnant, with how serious you sounded. This is bad, obviously, but not, I’m-about-to-be-a-grandmother bad.”

Instantly Annabeth’s face was on fire and she choked on the drink of coffee she’d just taken. “No! No. It’s–” Annabeth wanted to say it was impossible, but she knew it was never entirely impossible so long as they were sexually active. Both Annabeth and Percy were meticulous about contraception, though. She supposed it made even more sense now, why he took protection just as seriously as she did – they were both accidental pregnancies, and in their own ways they’d each been made to suffer for it. Neither of them wanted to gamble with repeating history.

“We’re careful,” Annabeth finally managed to say, the heat in her face so intense it began spreading down her neck and to her chest.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to embarrass you,” Sally said, though the amusement in her expression slowly faded as she sobered up again. Being relieved there was no unplanned pregnancy was understandable, but it only went so far to cover for the reason Annabeth had actually come by. Sally settled back into her chair, her brow beginning to furrow the way Percy’s did whenever he was especially worried about something or someone, and wrapped her hands around her mug.

They sat in silence for several minutes while Sally mulled over the dilemma they now faced. For the most part Annabeth felt better knowing Sally was there to help, but a small part of her also felt guilty having to drag Sally into the whole mess. Getting Sally’s opinion before talking to Percy was the right thing to do, though. Annabeth was more sure of that sitting in Sally’s kitchen than she had been even the night before when Piper had recommended it. Sally knew her son better than anyone in the world, knew everything he had suffered over the years while working toward this dream of his and understood exactly what was at stake in the next month even more deeply than Annabeth.

“Well, that certainly explains why Piper has been suffering so much the last month,” Sally finally said, her eyes shining with sympathy. “I can’t even begin to imagine how terrifying it must have been for her to shoulder that kind of burden alone.”

“She’s had a rough go of it, to say the least,” Annabeth confirmed. Only the detail of Piper’s nightmare had been left out of Annabeth’s explanation. Those nightmares had been caused by the file Jove collected on Piper and her loved ones, but were not otherwise pertinent to the specific situation with Percy.

Sally sighed, and Annabeth could see her struggling with what to say, probably feeling the same storm of emotions Annabeth had been dealing with the last month, and especially in the week since Percy had met Poe. After another minute or so of contemplation, Sally nodded and took a deep breath. 

“I believe, firmly, there’s no place in a healthy relationship for keeping secrets, at least not about the big things,” she began, her eyes locked on Annabeth. “For that very reason I told Paul about Percy’s father early on in our relationship. If it’s what you need to do, I’ll go book us both tickets to Atlanta right now and we’ll be in the air before the end of the day to go have that conversation with Percy, together.

“But,” Sally continued, swallowing hard, “I don’t think we should tell him yet. If we tell Percy now, he’ll convince himself that he has to back out in some noble, but misguided, attempt to protect me. He’s always thought it was his job to protect me, rather than the other way around, and this would be no exception. Waiting until after the Olympics, or at least until after he’s finished competing, would be my ideal course.”

Piper had suggested the same thing, to hold off telling him. The idea of keeping him in the dark had Annabeth’s stomach in knots, especially with how much she already had to hide from him, but there was no denying Sally was right about what Percy would do. He’d throw everything he’d worked for away in the name of protecting his mother, the same way he had protected Hazel all those years ago, and the same way Annabeth had no doubt he would protect everyone else he loved if the situation ever arose.

Such loyalty was admirable, but throwing it all away would make no difference. Percy’s participation in the Olympics wasn’t what Jove Grace cared about. Dropping out wouldn’t protect Sally any more than it would protect Annabeth, Tristan, or anyone else whose secrets and mistakes had been collated and presented neatly in a manila folder, as if no more important than a sales report.

Thinking about it that way made Annabeth angry, her fingers curling tightly around her now empty coffee mug, and being angry made her sure she could not let what had destroyed Piper’s happiness destroy Percy’s too. For once Percy was just going to have to deal with being the one protected, instead of the protector. “Let’s wait to tell him,” she agreed with a nod.

“We’ll tell him together next month, then,” Sally said, reaching out again for Annabeth’s hand. That touch was so comforting, Annabeth wanted to cling to Sally for the whole three weeks Percy would be gone. “Let me take the fall if he’s upset when we do, though.”

“I can’t do that,” Annabeth replied, shaking her head. “You wouldn’t be involved in this at all if I hadn’t come to you. I can deal with the consequences.”

Smiling, Sally squeezed Annabeth’s hand gently. “I’m the mother here. It’s my job to take the fall. Getting that through Percy’s thick skull has been a fight his entire life. Don’t make me fight you on it, too.”

“Okay,” Annabeth conceded in a very small voice, already trying very hard to convince herself there were no deeper implications to Sally’s words. It didn’t help that with just that one conversation, Sally had been more of a mother, more of a parent, than any of the three people who held those titles officially in Annabeth’s life.

“I’m curious, though,” Sally continued, her eyes softening, turning inquisitive, “was there anything about my work in that file? My books, I mean.”

Months later, Annabeth had still not been able to get a straight answer out of Percy about Sally’s novels, which only further confirmed her own suspicions about what Sally wrote. When Annabeth had been in high school, the first in a series of romantic adventure novels set in Ancient Greece – full of gods and monsters and epic, bloody battles – had been released. She remembered it very clearly, mostly because the debut novel had knocked one of Fredrick Chase’s off the top of the bestseller list and he’d been livid about it ever since. In the following years he’d been dethroned almost every single time a new book in that popular series came out, and every time he’d rant and rave about the coward who hid behind a pen name and never appeared at any promotional events, but still managed to outsell him every single time.

That alone wasn’t why Annabeth figured Percy avoided the topic like death itself – the books were also extremely steamy. Knowing a parent wrote the sexy books countless people all over the world were obsessed with was a strange experience. It had never particularly bothered Annabeth, mostly because she thought her dad’s writing was terrible and so did all her friends. Therein laid the problem for Percy. If Annabeth was correct about Sally’s work, those very books were on the shelves in the living room back at her apartment. She and Piper had been reading them almost religiously since high school, first to spite Fredrick, but then because the books were actually great.

“I don’t think there was, but I can check with Piper,” Annabeth answered, deciding not to ask Sally for confirmation, even given this prime opportunity. Percy felt awkward about his girlfriend reading his mom’s sexy books. That was fair, and Annabeth would maintain the facade of her having no idea for his sake as long as possible.

Sally shook her head, laughing. “It’s not a big deal, but my publisher is a subsidiary of Grace Media Group. I know a single author at one of their smaller publishers probably isn’t a big deal, but I was curious if Jason’s father would shoot himself in the foot just to make a point, or if he’d conveniently left out something that could have even a small impact on his own bottom line.”

“Is it alright with you if I ask Piper anyway?” Annabeth asked, because she suddenly also wanted to know. If there were things Jove Grace had left out of that file to protect himself, there were potentially things they could use against him, too. She had no idea what those things might be or how they could be put to use, but knowing was always the first step.

“Go for it,” Sally replied. “I only use the pen name to keep the kids from getting any unwanted attention. I’m not worried about you or Piper knowing.”

“Thank you,” Annabeth said, letting out a small sigh. “For listening, for the help, for the cookies and coffee, for trusting me – all of it.”

For a few seconds, Sally held tight to Annabeth’s hand and continued to smile, then she gave it a gentle pat and stood, chair scraping against the kitchen tile. “You’ll stay for lunch, right?” she asked, taking Annabeth’s coffee mug for a refill. “I picked up some of those green olives you love and I was thinking they’d make some really great olive bread, but I don’t trust the taste buds of anyone else in this house to appreciate the work it would take.”

Staying sounded too wonderful to pass up, especially after the challenge her morning had presented, so Annabeth nodded.


	112. Chapter 112

“Where are you going this early?” Piper asked, staring in disbelief at Annabeth, showered and dressed in a pair of nice and dark jeans, cream blouse, and pink blazer. Even her hair was done, blow dried and braided over her shoulder. Seated at the kitchen table, Piper had just finished up a breakfast of a cream cheese laden bagel and green smoothie, only a few minutes from heading off to work for the day.

Annabeth had been dealing with Percy’s absence fairly well in the week since he’d left. They spent a good chunk of time on the phone every night, but otherwise Annabeth treated her days as if nothing had changed, like Percy was just at the NYU athletic center doing his daily workout instead of several states away going through an intensive training program ahead of the biggest swimming competition in the world. 

Most days, after Annabeth and Piper came back from their morning runs, Annabeth would make herself a cup of decaf coffee (Piper would never think _decaf coffee_ wasn’t gross) and curl up on the couch. She would spend the next hour or so catching up on the morning news cycle before getting to work. Sometimes she would browse job listings in preparation for when they got back from Rome, but usually she would pull out her sketchbook, iPad and collection of magazines to work on Jason’s remodel project. Piper was honestly a little impressed with how well Annabeth had adjusted.

Considering the awkward look on Annabeth’s face, the project for Jason seemed to be the culprit for her peculiar behavior that morning. “I have a meeting.”

“A meeting,” Piper repeated, skeptical. It was Monday, though, and Piper doubted Jason would be taking time off work to meet Annabeth about redecorating his bedroom. Most of their meet ups had happened in the evenings over dinner or on weekends.

“Kind of,” Annabeth confirmed, avoiding eye contact as she packed a few things into an over sized purse – her iPad, sketchbook, pencil case, a few magazines that were dogeared and marked with post it notes. Everything pointed to the project she’d been working on for Jason, but the evasiveness and timing made Piper suspicious all the same. Not once in the weeks Annabeth had been meeting with Jason had she been secretive about it.

Heaving a sigh, Annabeth stopped with her purse slung over her shoulder. “Jason called last night. There’s just– it’s a thing with his dad.”

“What does it have to do with you?” Piper asked, immediately beginning to feel anxious. That certainly explained Annabeth’s secrecy.

“Jove thinks it’s no longer appropriate for Jason to live with everyone else, that he needs a place of his own to be a real man or something stupid like that,” Annabeth explained, speaking the words slowly, carefully, because she knew exactly how angry they were going to make Piper. No one in the world was as smart as Annabeth Chase, because even just that much pissed Piper off. “There are a couple condos in the tower for Jason to choose from, so he wants me to go look at them, take pictures, maybe even sketch out ideas. If he has to move, he wants to at least be able to make his new place somewhere he’d like living.”

“So, you’re meeting with a realtor,” Piper concluded, trying her best to reel in her anger so she didn’t take it out on Annabeth.

There was a deep sympathy in Annabeth’s eyes as she nodded. “It’s a much bigger and different project than we originally had in mind, but I want to see it through for him.”

“Will he be there with you?” Piper asked, not sure why she was curious about it. She was glad Annabeth was helping with this, that something potentially painful for him might be made a little more tolerable because of Annabeth’s involvement and help. Jason would need a friend to help him through. There was no better friend in the world, as far as Piper was concerned.

“No, he has to work,” Annabeth replied with a shake of her head. “I’m meeting him for lunch later to talk over his options, though.”

“Good. I’m sure he feels better knowing you’re in this with him,” Piper said, letting out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. 

It surprised even Piper how difficult this was for her. Imagining Jason anywhere but that apartment was impossible. It made her heart ache, mostly because he belonged with the _people_ there – and she realized then, that was exactly why Jove was forcing him to move. Isolating Jason would make him easier to control and influence. The thought made her stomach churn and suddenly there was a real possibility she was going to lose her breakfast.

All Piper could think about on the commute to work was Jason, alone in some new and unfamiliar apartment. He’d only be a few floors away from the rest of his family, but those floors might as well be miles for how final they were. A small voice in the back of her mind kept whispering it was her fault. She left him alone. It had made sense at the time, and sometimes, when she thought hard about that decision, it still did, but more and more often she became furious with herself for having left Jason’s side at all. There would have been hell to pay for defying his father, but it couldn’t have been any worse than the hell she was already in. At least she would have been in that hell with him, instead of this one without him.

Piper’s focus did not improve when she made it to the office. Try as she might, she barely got any work done. She had to read the same line in an e-mail five times before she managed to process what it said. A couple times she forgot what she was doing in the middle of a task. It wasn’t until one of her co-workers reminded her that Piper even remembered she needed to take her first break. Her mind simply refused to think about anything but imagine where Annabeth was, what Annabeth was doing, when Annabeth would see Jason.

Thinking so much about Jason wasn’t entirely uncommon. Some days it was near impossible for Piper to get him out of her mind, others she would think of him just once or twice. Piper could never decide which was worse – being inundated with those constant thoughts or realizing at the end of a day that he’d been so far from her mind. She didn’t want to spend forever hung up on him, and yet the idea of him not being a central figure in her life was heart wrenching.

At least she had Will’s handsome face to look forward to. When lunch rolled around, Piper practically ran out of the office and out to the street to catch a cab. She’d missed Will immensely while he’d been gone in Malibu, but she had also been thankful he stayed, both to help their parents and to send Piper a constant stream of pictures of Elena. Tristan was getting better at communicating, and Naomi was pretty consistent about sharing pictures on Instagram, but Piper would have probably barely seen or heard anything most days over the last month if Will hadn’t been there.

She made it to JFK a few minutes before Will’s flight arrived, so she didn’t have to wait around for him too long. As soon as she saw him coming through the crowd of arrivals through security, she let out a squeal and shouted, “William!” without even the tiniest hint of shame when several heads turned in her direction.

“You really didn’t have to come. You’re supposed to be at work,” Will said as soon as he was within reach and Piper had thrown her arms around him.

“I’m supposed to be on lunch and this is how I’m choosing to use my free time,” she replied, squeezing him a little tighter. “And I’m having a weird day, so I needed this anyway.”

They both knew Piper would have been there regardless of whether she’d needed his company, but Will decided to cut her some slack and not point out the obvious. Instead he complained when she didn’t offer to take his bag, after which she decided he was completely on his own and didn’t help him with the luggage they picked up at baggage claim, either. “Why do you have a giant suitcase now when you only left with that carry on?”

“We did a lot of shopping,” he replied with a shrug. “And I needed books while I was there.”

“Nerd,” she muttered, giving him a light nudge with her elbow. She was very glad she hadn’t tried helping him with his bags after that explanation.

Catching a cab wasn’t particularly difficult at the airport, but it was a busy time of day, so they had to wait in line for a while. Will took the opportunity to fill Piper in on a few more details of his stay, things that had been too wordy to text or just hadn’t seemed important enough. Elena was settling in well at home in her nursery. Naomi was still recovering from her surgery and the strain of pregnancy in general, but doing well, and they had a nanny helping out with the baby so she didn’t have to overextend herself. Tristan was already itching to get back to work, which didn’t entirely surprise Piper, but as of yet had not committed to any projects. All in all, it was probably the best situation either Piper or Will could have hoped for.

“Why didn’t you stay longer?” Piper asked from the comfort of a taxi’s back seat. Will had decided the Friday before to make his way back to New York, but he had months before school started again and could have stuck around. In his shoes, Piper wasn’t sure what she would have done, but she also wasn’t nearly as close with Tristan as Will was with Naomi. She’d expected him to stay.

Will’s head fell back against his seat’s headrest and he heaved a dramatic sigh. “Coming out to my mom was a mistake.”

Taken entirely by surprise, concern flashed across Piper’s features as she stared at him. “ _What_?”

“All she wanted to talk about was my love life,” he explained, a small smile pulling at his lips. Piper smacked him on the thigh with a tiny bit more force than was entirely necessary – he’d mislead her on purpose just to get a reaction out of her. “Seriously, though, I started to feel like I was going crazy. I think she was trying to make up for all the time we didn’t talk about me dating at all, but it was way too much. When she asked me about losing my virginity, I knew I had to get out of there.”

Any anger she might have felt over his teasing faded instantly as she burst into laughter. “Ew, she really asked you that?”

“Unfortunately,” Will said, letting out another of those dramatic sighs. There was a smile still playing at his lips, though. As awkward as the question might have been, he was happy about it, relieved to no longer be keeping that crucial part of him secret from his mother. Piper was proud of him. “I didn’t want to make her feel bad, so I just sucked it up and told her the truth – and then she decided she had to tell me exactly what that guy was up to these days and offer to get his number for me.”

“You’re a hero,” Piper told him with sarcastic gravity. Jokes aside, she would rather be thrown into a vat of boiling oil than ever have that conversation with her own father, no matter how effectively they managed to repair their relationship.

Midday traffic had arrived in full force during the brief period between Piper’s trip to the airport and then, so they ended up stuck. She had planned for the time, but not for Will taking that as an opportunity to ask her difficult questions. “So, why’s it been a weird day?”

“There’s just a lot of busywork to be done and nothing even remotely interesting,” she said, the easiest explanation, if not the most honest one.

He wasn’t buying it, eyes narrowing as he shifted slightly in his seat to get a better look at her. “What else?”

“Annabeth is helping Jason pick out a new apartment,” Piper admitted with a roll of her eyes. How Will had managed to figure out her tells after they’d known each other like five months, she had no idea. It was annoying, though. He would make a great doctor someday, with such good instincts for reading people.

“Annabeth helping him bugs you?”

“No,” she quickly assured him. Will didn’t know about the file, but he did know about the mess Jason’s life had become, and that Jove Grace had been the culprit. “He’s not moving because he wants to, he’s moving because his dad is _making_ him.”

“You’re worried about him,” Will concluded, sympathy in his voice. 

All Piper could do was nod, not because she was ashamed of her concern, but because she was so infuriated by her own inability to do anything. Since the day Jason had found out about his new role within his family, she’d been powerless to help him, and her helplessness had only worsened in the months that followed. What little she had been able to offer him then was no longer an option. She loved him. Loving him hadn’t stopped after graduation. It would never stop, even if they couldn’t find a way back to each other.

That was the worst of it. With every passing day, Piper became more certain that a part of her would love Jason for as long as she lived. The shape of that love might change, but it would always be there, constant and unfading. They had shared too much.

“Send him a text,” Will finally said, when Piper remained silent, starting to get lost in her own thoughts. “A friendly text.”

She shook her head emphatically. “I can’t do that to him. He’s having a hard enough time right now and I already fucked up bad enough a couple weeks ago. Throwing something like that at him just to make myself feel better would be ridiculously selfish.”

Will considered her for a few seconds, Piper feeling self conscious under his scrutiny. Having this conversation trapped in the back of a taxi had been a terrible idea. “Why?”

“Why what?” Piper replied, her brow furrowing as she returned her gaze to him.

“Why is it ridiculously selfish?” he pressed, his tone even and calming in a way that seeped through Piper’s constant frustration and made her think rather than just feel. That had always been her greatest weakness, acting on feeling instead of thought.

“In what way would it not be?” she asked, because it felt obvious to her why it would be selfish. 

Texting him would make her feel better, like she’d done something for him, even if small. That small gesture would turn his day upside down, though. Jason was already struggling in a job he didn’t want and hated, and now having to come to terms with moving away from the people he loved – and that was just what Piper knew. It was very likely there were other things she had no idea about. Piper would not, under any circumstances, add to his burden. She’d done enough of that by not being honest with him back in May, breaking his heart without giving him the explanation he’d deserved.

“It sounds like he needs friends now more than ever,” Will answered with a light shrug. “Offer him your friendship. He can decide for himself whether or not that’s something he can handle, but he won’t know he even has the option unless you offer it first.”

He was right, Jason did need friends. Piper had known that all along. As bad as it sounded, she had never really considered she could be one of them. “What if _I_ can’t handle it? What if I don’t know how to be his friend, or it’s too soon, or both?”

The corners of his mouth twitched upward, and Piper knew her question was about to be answered with another question. “Can you know if you don’t try?”

“Why are you so much smarter than me?” Piper whined instead of acknowledging that Will made a valid point. 

There would be no knowing if she didn’t try, and giving Jason the option of her friendship wasn’t an entirely selfish act, if he needed and wanted it, but just didn’t realize it was even available to him. She’d robbed him of the chance to choose his own path after Jove had shown her that file. Giving him this choice wouldn’t make up for _that_ selfish act, but it could be a start, and maybe it would give her a chance to talk to him honestly, like Annabeth kept insisting she needed to, like Piper knew deep down she should have done from the beginning.

“The real question is,” Will started, appearing all too pleased with himself, “how long is it going to keep surprising you that I am?”


	113. Chapter 113

The apartment Jason shared with his immediate family had been one of the most luxurious homes Annabeth had ever been in. It had not prepared her in any way, shape, or form for the two condos she was invited to view for him, which were, if possible, even larger and more luxurious. 

Annabeth knew as soon as she stepped into the second that it was the one she would choose if the decision were entirely hers. The realtor told her it had been empty for a few years and not been renovated since long before it had gone on the market. That much was clear as she was shown around. Both kitchens (yes, there were two) were extremely dated. The master bath was nice enough, but Annabeth immediately had ideas for how to better utilize the natural light from the room’s massive windows, and the walk-in closet was a mess of clunky, inefficient storage units.

Even with all those problems, and more Annabeth didn’t bother listing mentally on her first walk through, it was still absolutely beautiful. The elevator opened straight to a massive living room with vaulted ceilings and over sized windows that provided a view of the city so breathtaking Annabeth couldn’t help but snap a few pictures of it along with the others she took to document the space and show Jason. Just that great room was so big it could have swallowed Annabeth’s entire apartment and still had space to spare. 

A spiral staircase toward the back led to an open second floor landing with ample area to serve as a room on its own. It was a space meant for entertaining, for parties with long and impressive guest lists, caterers and live music, not just for _living_. There was no denying it would be worthy of Jason’s new status, and it told Annabeth more about what would be expected of him moving forward than anything she’d heard from him or Piper the last few months.

It also inspired a few ideas for new ways they could work on chipping away at Jason’s image. High society parties weren’t all that could be thrown in that space, and Annabeth doubted Jason’s neighbors in the building would respond well to the constant disturbance of obnoxiously loud music and rambunctious, destructive guests. Rumors would certainly fly about his party habits before long once he had his own place for throwing them.

In a perfect world, Annabeth would have given anything to live in that condo, to wake up and drink her morning coffee in the smaller family kitchen with its adorable little breakfast nook, to waste hours away working on some project or another in the office upstairs with all its built in bookcases, or to spend the evening curled up with Percy in that massive great room just staring at the sparkling cityscape. Knowing what price Jason was paying for it, she didn’t envy him in the slightest. Imagining all those wonderful things made her hopeful she might be able to help Jason turn it into a place that was at least nice to live, though.

After her tour concluded, Annabeth stopped at a nearby cafe to pull up all the pictures she’d taken and start sketching out a few ideas for the rooms that would need the most work. There wasn’t time for anything too elaborate, but she could at least make sure she had a vision to share with him. It was strange to realize he was paying her for this time. This wasn’t just for a grade or fun, it was work. In a small way, Annabeth was finally doing what she’d spent her whole life dreaming of.

By the time she needed to head out to meet Jason for lunch, Annabeth was satisfied with the progress she’d made on a handful of sketches.

Grace Tower was in the Upper East Side of Manhattan and the office Jason now worked out of was in Brooklyn, so it took close to an hour of travel time, with one transfer and a fair amount of walking, to get there. Annabeth had always taken the bus and subway around Manhattan, even when she had a steady stream of almost unlimited cash from her dad, but these longer commutes were new to her. For the first time ever she missed being able to just catch a cab or order a ride share. It would have been a much easier trip, but also much more expensive, and even with Jason paying her for her services, Annabeth wasn’t going to just throw money away.

Thinking about money at all was a relatively new experience for her. Annabeth still had it easy, considering she had no rent to pay thanks to Piper and Tristan’s generosity, and no loans to worry about paying off in the future, but she’d watched the money Athena had given her slowly trickle away over the course of the last few months and felt a growing sense of dread. Even that had been stunted some, considering Piper insisted on footing the bill most of the time when they ordered food or went out. She had been confident she had enough to last her the summer, but things would have gotten tight quickly if Jason hadn’t given her this opportunity.

She was brainstorming ways she might be able to show Jason a little thanks for having such faith in her when she arrived at her final subway stop. The rest of the trip was on foot, through crowded and unfamiliar sidewalks, as she followed directions fed to her by the GPS on her phone and hoped the humidity in the air wouldn’t cover her in sweat and turn her hair into a mess of frizz.

Considering Jason’s family tower was the epitome of wealth and luxury, she did not anticipate his new office to be in an old, converted factory warehouse. Without her phone practically shouting at her that she’d arrived at her destination, she might have passed it entirely. There was nothing wrong with the building – actually, Annabeth appreciated the sturdy, industrial, all brick exterior and the six floors of perfectly aligned, massive double hung windows – but she’d expected something more modern and pretentious. Since Jove himself didn’t have to work there, Annabeth supposed it didn’t need to adhere to his very predictable, and kind of boring, tastes.

Inside was more on par with what Annabeth would have expected. The first floor was a wide open lobby, the only reminder it was once a factory being the massive brick support pillars at regular intervals around the space. All those giant windows filled the room with warm, natural light. Couches, chairs and coffee tables were scattered around the lobby, and to the left of the entrance a cafe with a sizable line filled the building with the sweet scents of freshly brewed coffee and baked goods. A front desk attended by an older woman with short gray hair and a security guard in a brown uniform sat in the center of it all.

Annabeth was directed to the fourth floor when she told the receptionist she had come to see Jason Grace. Narrowed eyes and a disapproving sniff after a once over from the woman made Annabeth a little self conscious as she headed toward the elevator. Safe behind those closed doors, Annabeth took quick stock of her own appearance. She wasn’t sweating, despite her walk, and her clothes were in good condition – no unnoticed coffee spills on her shirt or blazer. Even her hair felt like it had mostly kept itself in order, which she definitely had the new leave-in conditioner Hazel had recommended to thank for. That strange interaction was forgotten as soon as the elevator opened onto the fourth floor.

Like the lobby downstairs, Jason’s floor was a mostly open space with pillars in all the same places. The main differences were the number of desks scattered around, along with an enclosed space in the back. Jason’s office – Annabeth didn’t even have to ask, because the walls were covered in floor to ceiling windows, the door open, and he sat at his desk in plain view.

Eyes were on Annabeth as soon as she stepped into the office, but thankfully there weren’t too many people spending their lunch hour there. She didn’t dawdle, heading straight back to where Jason waited and giving a light knock on his open glass door. A smile spread across his face as soon as he looked up and saw her. “It is exactly twelve thirty – how are you always so perfectly on time?”

“My super power is punctuality,” Annabeth replied with a shrug, stepping right in and plopping herself down in one of the armchairs across the desk from Jason. “Pretty nice place you’ve got here.”

Jason took a deep breath as he scanned the office, his face pinched with conflict. “Could be a lot worse, I suppose. My assistant is out getting our lunches. He should be back soon.”

“I could have brought us lunch. You didn’t have to send him out,” Annabeth told him.

“No, Don _likes_ getting my lunch,” he said, some of his dejection clearing away. “He uses the company card for it and I always make him get himself something, too. Guy hasn’t paid for his own lunch in over a month.”

“Are you supposed to do that?” she asked, unable to keep the amusement off her face or out of her voice.

A proper smile began to return to Jason’s face and he shrugged. “Probably not, but who’s going to stop me?”

His complete nonchalance made Annabeth laugh. She knew he was taking his job seriously, and had spent weeks preparing himself as best he could before he had to start, but it would seem that dedication extended only as far as would make sure he could carry his weight. “I’m shocked by your complete disregard for propriety, Jason Grace.”

That disregard for propriety went beyond the unsanctioned use of his company card, though. Annabeth had expected Jason to be wearing a full suit and tie, but he was dressed in business casual – no blazer or tie, just a pale blue collared shirt with the top three buttons undone and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Jason’s ever growing tattoo could be seen on his forearm, the eagle that had been his first now surrounded by a swirling, artistic wind that Annabeth knew continued up his entire arm to his shoulder. He looked good, his health improved steadily from the first time she’d seen him after the breakup, though Annabeth had witnessed those slow improvements firsthand over the course of the last month.

“Have to get my kicks where I can these days,” he said, a hint of bitterness breaking through despite his smile. Even most of his free time now was spend on activities he didn’t particularly enjoy. The clubbing and partying he now filled his nights and weekends with were as much work for him as what he did in that office, maybe even more so. 

“How was your birthday?” Annabeth asked, too curious about the evening not to ask. They hadn’t seen each other since breakfast the morning Percy left and their texting tended to be limited to discussing paint swatches and tile samples. This was something she wouldn’t have wanted to discuss over text, anyway.

“Well,” Jason started, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair, “my mom showed up, so that was great.”

Even without the blatant sarcasm with which Jason said the word great, Annabeth would have known Beryl Grace showing up was very much not great news. She kicked herself for not asking him about the night sooner. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, as okay as I think I can be,” he replied with a gentle nod. “She’s staying with us now, while they film that stupid show. Thalia’s having a worse time of it than I am, but Mom keeps freaking out about my _behavior_.”

“That means you must have put on a good show for her,” Annabeth concluded, eyebrows raised. Of course _Fury and Family_ was at the center of this terrible development in Jason’s already shit filled life.

Thankfully, a small smile began to play at Jason’s lips again when prompted to talk about his antics. “I spilled a glass of whiskey on a senator, broke a vase I’m pretty sure was worth more than most people make in a year, pretended to think one of my dad’s oldest business associates’ wife was his daughter, laid on the floor for a good five minutes before my mom dragged me to my feet, and, finally, staged a very loud and heated fight with Frank – which Thalia got on video and said was the funniest thing she’d ever seen, if you’d like her to send it to you.”

“Oh, I am definitely going to have her send it to me,” she said, laughing at just the idea of Jason fighting with Frank of all people. “I’m sorry your birthday had to be… _that_ , though.”

Jason shrugged, very obviously trying to smile and failing. “It won’t be forever.”

Not wanting to linger too long on that depressing note, Annabeth pulled out her phone and brought up the pictures from her earlier tours. “Well, are you ready to see your options?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Annabeth passed her phone over Jason’s desk so he could begin flipping through the images. His face twisted with distaste almost instantly looking at the images, though Annabeth had a feeling it was over the lavishness of the condos she’d viewed and not because he took issue with the many things she had. “I preferred the second place,” she told him, pulling out her sketchbook and turning to the pages she’d been sketching and making notes on. “It’s bigger, which I figure is a con for you, but they’re both stupidly huge anyway, and I think it would need less work to turn into a place you might actually enjoy living in.”

“How much bigger?” he asked, his index finger scrolling through images so fast Annabeth had a feeling he barely even looked at the images. This didn’t frustrate her because she felt like she’d wasted time, it frustrated her because his indifference broke her heart. They were talking about the place he would live and call home, quite possibly for a large chunk of his life, depending on how things went, and yet he couldn’t bring himself to care.

“It has two kitchens,” Annabeth said, wincing. Even the McLean place in Malibu wasn’t that pretentiously excessive, and it had a theater in its basement.

To her surprise, Jason didn’t seem to find this strange. He didn’t even look up from her phone. “Our houses upstate have two kitchens, too. The main kitchen is usually reserved for staff and formal use. I hate to say it, but it’ll probably come in handy.”

“Jason,” Annabeth said, her voice flat. He looked up, eyebrows raised in response to her tone. “Percy would be gravely disappointed in me if I didn’t take this opportunity to tell you, you have way too much money.”

He laughed, handing Annabeth’s phone back over to her. At least he genuinely seemed amused and not like he was forcing it. “How’s that jerk doing in Atlanta, anyway?”

“Enjoying himself way too much,” she replied, her heart aching with the pang of missing him that accompanied every time someone brought Percy up. “He makes it sound like he’s on vacation every time he calls, not going through an intensive three week boot camp preparing for the biggest competition in the world.”

“I’m guessing he’s the most popular guy there, too,” Jason said, relaxing back into his chair. Based on her own experience, Annabeth had to agree, but Percy had not said anything of the sort. He probably didn’t even realize how much his peers liked him. “You said you liked the second place better?”

She nodded, handing over her sketchbook so he could at least take a look at it. “The kitchens will need to be completely redone, as will the bathrooms, and the master suite walk-in, but the layout is already open and welcoming, whereas the first one was all closed off. I was also thinking the study could be expanded, turned into a proper library. We’d have to wait and see if its walls are load bearing, but even if they are, we could potentially add an open doorway to connect the rooms instead – not quite the same, but it would still feel like a unified space, rather than separate rooms.”

Much more time and attention was given to Annabeth’s sketches and notes. Jason studied them carefully, his lips pursed and eyes intent on their subject. She wondered what he saw, if her ideas held potential for him that his own mind hadn’t been able to conjure just looking at the pictures she’d taken. Picturing a future for herself there hadn’t been difficult for Annabeth and she hadn’t even been viewing the condos for herself. He deserved to see at least a little of that hopefulness for himself, too, even if the shape his future might take was still so unclear.

“We’ll go with the second one, then,” Jason decided, passing Annabeth’s sketchbook back to her and trying to smile. He didn’t do a very good job of it.

“I’ll get some more concrete and complete ideas put together for you and bring it all when we have breakfast on Saturday,” she said with a nod, tucking her sketchbook and phone back into her bag now that they’d served their purpose.

“Annabeth, Saturday is _your birthday_ ,” Jason chided, his eyes sparking with amusement. “We’re not going to be discussing work.”

“I like talking about work. This is fun for me,” she insisted, because it honestly was. 

Even when she’d just been working on some décor and a small remodel for Jason’s bedroom and bathroom, Annabeth had been enjoying herself a surprising amount. Interior design was a far cry from the grand scale of architecture, and she was outside of her comfort zone where the more artistic details were concerned, but she was also rising to the challenge, learning as much as she could and finding creative ways to apply her strengths and knowledge. When the time came, she’d tap her resources – particularly Hazel, who had an amazing eye for color – and she had no doubts she would be able to put everything she learned to use in the future.

“No,” Jason replied, playfully stern. “We will not be talking shop on your birthday. Absolutely not.”

“It’s my birthday. If I want to talk shop, you’re required by all the rules of both birthdays and friendship to grant me that wish,” Annabeth pressed, matching his tone.

“They have a word for people who think that – _workaholic_ ,” he teased. Or maybe he wasn’t teasing, considering it was kind of true. Either way, Annabeth was thankful he’d once again become comfortable enough to give her a bad time. Before she could snap back, Jason’s phone dinged and he reached for it. “Sorry, let me check this. It’s probably Don. He was high as a kite when he came in to–”

Annabeth watched a flurry of emotion play across Jason’s features. Confusion to start, as he leaned in a little closer to his phone as if double checking what he’d read, shock taking over a few seconds later, only to be just as quickly over taken by a hint of sadness. The ghost of a smile dancing across his features when he finally set his phone back on his desk was what surprised Annabeth most, though, after all those other negative expressions. 

“What was it?”

Jason looked at her, that faint smile slowly starting to grow, then back at the phone on his desk as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Seconds passed slowly as he searched for an answer to give her, only serving to make Annabeth feel more anxious about what it could possibly be – something to do with his family, or maybe an article about his antics had finally slipped past Jove’s tight grip on the media. She told herself it had to be something good if he was smiling, even just a little, but the longer he failed to answer, the more difficult it was to believe.

Finally his gaze settled on her and his smile became a little more solid, more prominent. “It was Piper.”

That was when Jason’s assistant walked through the door with their lunches, effectively interrupting the moment and pulling the rug out from under Annabeth’s opportunity to ask anything more. It was probably for the best. Jason wasn’t the one who could answer the millions of questions that had just exploded to life in her mind, anyway.


	114. Chapter 114

“What the _actual fuck_ , Piper?”

If the words themselves hadn’t been enough to stop Piper in her tracks as soon as she’d stepped in the door, the frustration in Annabeth’s voice and that deathly glare would have sufficed. Without any more explanation, Piper knew exactly what Annabeth was talking about. Whether it was because Annabeth had still been with Jason when Piper sent it, or because he’d told her after the fact, Annabeth knew about the text. And she was mad.

Piper had fully intended to tell Annabeth about it when she got home. That wasn’t a conversation to be had over texts, though – as counter intuitive as that probably sounded – and Piper didn’t have time after she finished getting Will settled back home to make a call before she had to get back to work. 

For weeks Annabeth had been trying to convince Piper to reach out to Jason, and for weeks Piper had refused to even consider it. This had come out of the blue, without so much as a suggestion Piper might be thinking about it when they’d last seen each other that morning. More than anger, Piper assumed Annabeth was hurt that the text hadn’t been discussed beforehand, and probably that no warning had been given ahead of time to prepare for however Jason might react. Running the idea by Annabeth before actually doing it might have been a good idea, too, but Piper hadn’t been in a _good idea_ head space that day. Or that month. Bad ideas were kind of her thing now, not that she particularly considered the text itself a bad idea.

“What did he tell you?” Piper asked, trying to look and sound apologetic, while she slipped her shoes off at the door and deposited her bag on its designated hook. Bob had already jumped down from where he’d been curled up on the couch beside Annabeth. At least he was excited to welcome Piper home, wasting no time to start rubbing circles around her ankles with all his tiny bodied might.

Seated on the couch with a book in hand, Annabeth continued to stare Piper down. “Nothing. He didn’t even tell me what the text said. His phone buzzed, he checked it, expecting it to be his assistant, and instead it was _you_.”

That confirmed he’d seen her text, at least. Piper hadn’t been able to bring herself to check if the text had switched from _sent_ to _read_ , and she hadn’t received a reply. She wasn’t expecting one, at least not immediately. Not expecting it didn’t keep her from feeling disappointed he hadn’t responded the very second he saw her message. Jason had almost always replied to her texts within a minute or two, extenuating circumstances not withstanding. This silence was just another bitter reminder of everything that had changed since May.

“What did you say?” Annabeth finally asked, when Piper remained standing, silent, in the middle of the living room.

Being asked so directly spurred Piper into action. She reached down and picked Bob up, settling the kitten in the crook of her elbow before shrugging and heading further into the apartment. It had been a long day and she wanted out of her work clothes. Taking Bob with her because he was soft and warm and his outrageously loud purring soothed her had nothing to do with how anxious she felt.

“You can’t just walk away from me,” Annabeth called after Piper, and a second later the sound of stomping feet followed her down the hall.

“I’m tired, Annabeth. I want to get changed,” Piper complained, placing Bob on her bed when she arrived in her room and heading straight for her closet.

Annabeth climbed into Piper’s bed beside Bob, reaching her hand out to give the kitten a playful ruffle. She settled with legs crossed and her face set into a very displeased scowl. That was Bob’s sign to attack, and instantly his claws were digging into her, teeth gnawing on one of her fingers while he tried to wrestle her for dominance. Piper would have been annoyed, and often had been in their first days with the kitten, but Bob had learned pretty quickly that was something he only got to do with Annabeth. Piper’s hands were for pets and head scratches.

“Has he replied?” Annabeth asked, deciding to attack from another direction. Unfortunately for Piper, Annabeth knew what she was doing.

“No,” Piper answered, voice small, betraying her selfish disappointment and all the layers of anguish that came with it. To avoid making eye contact, she started stripping off her work clothes and tossing them aside.

Even though she was turned away, Piper could practically feel Annabeth’s piercing gaze boring into her back. “Are you sure?”

“I’ve checked my phone like every two minutes the entire day,” Piper said. She snagged a shirt off her hanger and crossed over to her dresser to get a pair of shorts. “I know it was stupid, and selfish, and whatever else, you don’t have to tell me. It just sounded like a good idea when Will said it.”

When Piper finally looked back at Annabeth, her expression had softened. “What exactly did you say?”

Saying it was too difficult, so she crossed back to where she’d dropped her pants and fished her phone out of her pocket. There would be no more avoiding it, mostly because there was no way Annabeth would let this go without getting a straight answer, not after so massively regretting not forcing the truth out of Piper the day after graduation. Piper unlocked her phone – not that it mattered, Annabeth knew her passcode – and handed it over so Annabeth could read the message.

 **PIPER (12:48PM)**  
i heard things are getting rough again. if you need a friend, i’m always here.

It was a simple enough message, honest, not particularly pushy, at least that was what Piper had told herself when she hit send earlier that day. In the hours that had passed she’d picked it apart, come to regret each and every word. Things weren’t just _rough_. They certainly couldn’t be rough _again_ , when they had never even stopped being complete shit. There was no reason he’d want her friendship when she’d been the one to cause half the hell he was suffering, let alone _need_ her. Piper wasn’t even sure he’d believe she meant friend genuinely. Worst of all, there was no reason for him to believe she was _always_ there when she had been the one to leave in the first place. 

Before Piper could even realize it was happening, tears were streaming down her cheeks.

In a blink Annabeth had tossed the phone aside and stolen her hand back from Bob, then she was on her feet and wrapping Piper in an embrace. “It wasn’t stupid or selfish,” she soothed, tucking Piper’s head against her shoulder.

“Yes, it was. The stupidest and selfishest,” Piper insisted, voice muffled and strained both from hiding against Annabeth and her own blubbering.

“ _Selfishest_ isn’t a word,” Annabeth said, holding Piper a little tighter despite her teasing.

Teasing was not something Piper was in the right frame of mind to handle, though, and her sobs just doubled. “See, I’m the stupidest.”

Just as quick as Annabeth’s arms had gone around Piper, they retreated. She stepped back a hair and took Piper’s face in her hands, tilting it up so Piper had no choice but to look her in the eye. Those eyes flashed with what Piper could only classify as fury. “You are not stupid, Piper McLean, and you are the least selfish person I have ever known. Was it hard to send that text?”

Too afraid of the ferocity in both Annabeth’s expression and voice to speak or try to deflect, Piper nodded.

“And did you mean what you said? You really meant to offer him your friendship with no other expectation or intentions?”

Again, Piper nodded. Admitting that hurt, and she was still worried she might be overestimating her own ability to control her feelings, but she loved Jason too much not to offer him whatever she could. If he did want or need that friendship, she’d ask nothing more of him, couldn’t ask anything more after all she’d done to hurt him, and so long as they were at the mercy of his father.

Seconds dragged on as Annabeth searched Piper’s face, then some of the terrifying intensity in her eyes began to fade, as if she’d made a decision. “He smiled,” Annabeth said, cupping Piper’s face a little gentler. “When he got your text, he smiled. I don’t know what that means and I don’t know why he hasn’t replied, but he smiled. It had seemed pretty hard for him to smile when I first got there, but for the rest of lunch they came a lot easier.”

“He smiled,” Piper repeated, unable to believe it.

Annabeth nodded, her thumbs brushing away the tears that were still flowing down Piper’s cheeks. “I wasn’t mad for Jason. I was mad because every time I feel like you’re beginning to make some progress, something happens to set you back. I don’t want this to be another one of those things, but if you’re sure about it, I’m proud of you.”

“Jury’s still out on me being sure of it,” Piper admitted, but her emotions were leveling out, the panic that had been gnawing at her all day beginning to loosen its grip on her. She’d made him smile. Whatever that meant, she could live with, because at least for a few seconds in the midst of a difficult day he’d experienced some hint of happiness.

“Give me a warning next time, though?” Annabeth asked, the corners of her lips twitching up in a tentative smile. “I was seriously _right there_ with him and probably looked like a dumb, brainless fish gaping at him in shock when he told me. It was embarrassing.”

Seeing Annabeth beginning to smile made it possible for Piper to do the same, sniffling and finding the tiniest bit of strength for teasing. “You’re cute when you get that look on your face.”

Smile continuing to grow, Annabeth wiped her thumbs under Piper’s eyes a couple more times and dropped her hands to her sides. “Now that we’re both confident you’re not losing your entire mind, what do you want for dinner?”

They ordered take-out. Piper got Bob his food. Annabeth started scrolling for a movie to play on Netflix in the background. When they settled together on the couch, waiting for their meal to be delivered, they were both cross legged and facing each other. Domesticity helped to ground Piper, bring her out of the spiral she’d been battling the entire day.

“Are you going to tell Jason what really happened when he replies?” Annabeth asked, clearly working hard to keep her voice free of pushiness.

Piper struggled to meet her best friend’s gaze, staring at the patch of couch between them. “I’m still not sure, honestly.”

Braced for Annabeth to get mad, or at least annoyed, Piper was surprised when instead Annabeth reached out and took her hand. “Help me understand why you’re still on the fence.”

“I lied to him,” Piper whispered, her eyes now locked on Annabeth’s hand in her own, warm, gentle, constant. “I lied to him, and I didn’t let him decide for himself whether we were worth fighting for, and I have been nothing but a coward for weeks, Annabeth. How am I supposed to tell him even that much, let alone risk Jove’s retaliation?”

“Because it’s the right thing to do,” Annabeth said, still entirely too forgiving in tone and demeanor. “And, because, you and I both know that he loves you. I can’t promise you it’s all going to work out, or that you’ll magically be able to be together again after you finally talk to him, but Jason does love you, Piper, and nothing is going to change that. The longer you wait, though, the harder it is to come back from this. I don’t want you to wake up one day and realize it’s too late.”

Those words were so reminiscent of Piper’s own thoughts earlier, she wondered if Annabeth had actually read her mind. Imagining that Jason could love her just as unconditionally and unfadingly as she loved him was painfully difficult for Piper. Painful, because she couldn’t stand the prospect of having lost something so rare and precious. Like everything with Jason – from their first kiss, to saying _I love you_ , to even their sex life – this phase of their relationship was new to Piper. She’d rarely missed someone after breaking up, let alone missed them enough to still spend entire days thinking about them or actively mourn the relationship. These new experiences, though, were much less enjoyable than all the previous ones.

Blessedly, the delivery driver arrived at the door with a knock before Piper could get too lost in that dangerous black hole of sadness. She jumped up to answer the door, accepted the bag of their food, handed over a tip with the best smile she could muster and politely uttered her thanks, then Piper headed back to the couch. Concern in Annabeth’s eyes let Piper know the moment of heartache had not gone unnoticed, but she refused to acknowledge it. “Do you want anything to drink?”

“Just water, please,” a very skeptical Annabeth answered, sitting up so she could start unpacking the take-out containers while Piper headed to the kitchen. The whole way there and back Piper could feel Annabeth’s eyes on her, but nothing more was said.

They ate dinner and snuggled down on the couch to waste the rest of the night away, talking about a few random details about their respective days and going over what they were doing for Annabeth’s birthday that weekend. It was a busy couple weeks ahead of them, but then they’d be heading off to Rome, which would undoubtedly be the busiest and craziest few weeks of their lives. Piper tried not to think too much about that trip and all the potential it held.

After their movie had finished, not that either of them had paid much attention to it, they pulled out their yoga mats and did their nightly relaxing routine. Those nightly yoga sessions included way more teasing and laughing than should have been relaxing, but Piper always felt better on the nights when Annabeth poked her ass while she was bent over in a forward fold pose, or when they both dissolved into giggles because one of them had farted at a very inopportune moment. The poses were soothing, helped release the tension Piper carried through her days, but she had a sinking suspicion that most of these sleep hygiene things were so effective because doing them with Annabeth made her happy.

Instead of her own bed, Piper settled into Annabeth’s that night. She felt especially clingy, and the feeling must have been mutual, because Annabeth just cuddled up next to her. Bob joined them there, too, nestling himself between them in a spot where he was guaranteed to be disturbed before long. Even when Percy called for his nightly check in, Annabeth put him on speakerphone and then three of them talked for the better part of an hour.

Hearing his voice made Piper happy, too, and while they lay there talking to him, she found herself thinking, for the first time in a long time, she had a pretty damn good life – a good job, an adorable kitten, and the most perfect friends in history. Maybe that could be enough. If she had that much, more than she’d had for most of her life, maybe she could survive whatever consequences awaited her when she confessed the truth to Jason.

When Jason texted her back, she would do it.

“Sorry I worried you,” Piper mumbled, when the lights were out and they were settled together under Annabeth’s covers. Her face was pressed against Annabeth’s back, clinging on like a little kid.

“Sorry I got so mad at first,” Annabeth replied, voice just as soft as Piper’s.

Piper wrapped her arms more tightly around Annabeth’s waist. “I love you.”

One of Annabeth’s arms settled over Piper’s and she threaded their fingers together, letting out a slow and contented sigh that Piper felt equally in her own bones. “I love you, too.”


	115. Chapter 115

Annabeth’s birthday had never been a particularly exciting occasion.

The day brought with it a dump truck of unwelcome memories and feelings. First and foremost, largely because it was the most recent of her bad experiences, were the memories tied to Annabeth’s eighteenth birthday. Her entire world view had begun to shift that evening, and the repercussions had been felt every day for years. It had cast a shadow over her relationship with Piper, held her back from experiencing so many things life might have otherwise had to offer, and left her shattered. That would have been enough to make birthdays bitter affairs for anyone, but that wasn’t where Annabeth’s bitterness began, only where it had been fortified.

Birthdays had always been a reminder that Annabeth was not wanted. Bringing her into the world had been an accident, raising her a burden, and no day was that ever more apparent than July twelfth. Parties were usually thrown, because they were expected and people would have asked too many questions if no celebration had been held, but they’d never been for _her_. Family friends, kids the twins knew, and neighbors were invited, but not Annabeth’s friends. This was compounded when her parents sent her away to boarding school – her classmates were scattered across the country on her birthday and the number of people she knew in San Francisco dwindled more each year. Not even Piper was invited, largely because of the animosity between their fathers, but also just because that would mean doing something solely for Annabeth.

Even the last four years, living on her own with her best friend beside her, in a city she loved and working toward her dreams, Annabeth’s birthday had remained an unpleasant time. She’d become a little more open to _celebrating_ , but making a big deal about the day or having giant parties continued to be out of her comfort zone.

Piper always respected Annabeth’s feelings on the matter, even just for the reasons that had been shared with her. Every year they would stay in, order dinner from Annabeth’s favorite Italian restaurant, and watch Disney movies until they fell asleep. The only thing Piper insisted upon was presents, because Piper was nothing if not obsessed with finding the perfect gifts for people she loved.

This year Annabeth decided to try something a little different. There would still be no party, but too many people genuinely wanted to be part of her day to just sequester at home with pasta and _The Little Mermaid_. Those people wanted to see her because they loved her, and she wanted to see them for the same reason. Nothing about it would be easy, because she struggled even more than usual to see why anyone would think her worthy of such infinite love on that of all days, but she would do her best to accept their seemingly unconditional love just the same.

All of this culminated in a very annoying way – Annabeth couldn’t sleep. Piper had wished her a happy birthday at midnight. Percy had called around the same time to sing a very off-key rendition of Marilyn Monroe’s _Happy Birthday Mr. President_ on FaceTime from his training camp dorm room that had left her in tears and stitches. After that she was supposed to go to bed, fall asleep, and be energized for the morning and day ahead of her. No such luck. Annabeth laid in bed, staring up at the ceiling, thinking about nothing but how much she hated her birthday.

Some small, selfish, secret part of her couldn’t help thinking things would be better if Percy were there with her, instead of having to lay in bed alone. He was the antithesis of almost everything from her life up until that point and there was nothing she wanted more in the world than to bury all her terrible experiences under new, better ones with him. It would take only a word, a quick phone call, and he would drop everything to be there with her, no matter the cost to himself. Knowing that eased some of the ache in her heart, and she would never actually ask it of him, but it didn’t stop her from cursing that stupid training camp keeping him from her.

At just past three in the morning, Annabeth decided to give up on sleeping. Her eyes stung from tiredness, but her mind refused to shut down and there was nothing else she could do. As Annabeth walked out of her bedroom and started down the hall, Bob exited Piper’s room and trotted after her, weaving between her feet in a very risky way. The kitten had already been stepped on a couple times when doing this very thing, thankfully very lightly, but he refused to learn his lesson. Bob craved attention constantly, almost always on or beside someone. Percy missing these first few weeks was a real shame, because Annabeth knew he would love how clingy Bob could be.

It was no surprise to Annabeth that the little gray fluff ball curled up on her chest just as soon as she laid down on the couch. She put on reruns of old sitcoms just for white noise while she scrolled through the late night news cycle, catching up on what little she’d missed in the hours since trying to go to sleep. One hand held her phone, scrolling with her thumb, while the other scratched Bob idly. His whole body shook with the rumbling of his purr, seeping into Annabeth’s bones and making her most intrusive thoughts fade into the background. Piper had joked about the kitten having healing powers, but Annabeth was beginning to think that wasn’t such a joke, after all.

Next thing Annabeth knew, Piper was seated on edge of the couch beside her, gently nudging her awake, and morning light was streaming in through the living room windows. Piper held out a cup of coffee – not a mug, a paper cup from the cafe they used as the finish line of their morning runs – and smiled. “Happy birthday, sleepy head.”

“What time is it?” Annabeth mumbled, pushing herself up and blinking against the light. Bob was gone, but her phone slipped from her chest into her lap as she stirred.

“About seven thirty,” Piper said, handing over the cup. “It’s not decaf. I figured you deserved to cheat on your birthday, and that you’d need the caffeine to get through today.”

A few more drowsy blinks were required before Annabeth managed to take the scene in properly – Piper wore the usual tank top and shorts combination she donned to run, her hair was tied up in a tight ponytail, and there was a thin layer of sweat drying on her skin. “Did you already go for our run? You should have woken me up sooner.”

“You only fall asleep on the couch like this when you’re stressed,” Piper replied, shaking her head. “I know this day is hard for you. I understand that better than ever now, actually, and I would have let you sleep longer, but you’ve got places to be.”

Warmth spreading through her chest, Annabeth opted to take a drink of her coffee rather than trying to formulate a response. “Thank you,” she finally said, a little bit of strength returning to her after those first few sips.

“Are you ready for your first present?” Piper asked, her lips pressed together and her chin tilted toward her chest ruefully.

“What do you mean my _first_ present?” Annabeth asked, though a begrudging smile pulled at her lips. She’d always conceded to Piper’s gift giving, but in turn Piper had kept things simple and thoughtful. From the expression Piper wore, it seemed that was not going to be the case this year.

From the couch behind her, Piper procured a single white envelope and handed it over, growing more obviously excited to present this gift by the second. “I _mean_ , this actually isn’t from me, so you’ll be getting something else later. I’m just the delivery girl right now.”

There was only one person Annabeth could think of who would need Piper to deliver their birthday present for them and a rush of anticipation and anxiety hit Annabeth like a hurricane as she set her coffee aside and took the envelope in hand. Opening it terrified her in all the best ways, but terror was still terror. Annabeth trusted Percy. He had never let her down, especially not when it counted. Still, the fear of disappointment that had been drilled into her by years of repeated let downs made her hesitate. Disappointment was all she’d ever really known on the twelfth of July.

“Okay, seriously,” Piper said, when Annabeth continued to stare at the envelope as if it might decide to eat her alive, “you need to open it _quickly_. We don’t have much time.”

“I don’t have to meet Jason for another two and a half hours,” Annabeth objected, her brow furrowing. “That’s still plenty of time to get ready and make it there.”

Her first engagement of the day was breakfast with Jason, but it was not the last on her schedule. After breakfast, she was meeting Frank and Hazel for a round or two of mini-golf. From there, she would head to the Grove to have a late lunch with Sally and Estelle. Annabeth’s day would round out back at home, with a familiar meal from her favorite Italian restaurant, but a couple very unfamiliar guests in the form of Athena and Victoria. Disney movies would surely be watched later that night as well, just to keep with tradition, but Annabeth and Piper hadn’t planned anything specific beyond dinner yet, deciding to play the evening by ear.

Piper scrunched her nose and shook her head. “You actually have about half an hour, and you are meeting Jason, but you’re not having breakfast.”

“Did he… text you or something?” Annabeth asked, growing more confused by the second, and that confusion making her momentarily forget the envelope in her hand. As far as Annabeth knew, Jason had not responded to Piper’s text from earlier that week, but it didn’t seem entirely outlandish that he might break that silence for the special occasion – except she didn’t see why he wouldn’t try texting her first, and she had no missed messages, and it would be kind of shitty of him to ignore Piper’s olive branch entirely that way.

“Just open your stupid present before I take it back, Annabeth Chase,” Piper replied, rolling her eyes despite the small smile still on her lips. At least bringing up texting Jason hadn’t poked any open wounds.

“You can’t take it back, it’s from Percy,” Annabeth argued, focusing back on the simple white paper.

Putting off opening it any longer seemed ridiculous even to Annabeth herself, so she took a deep breath and slipped her hand inside the unsealed envelope. She pulled out a single sheet of letter sized paper, hands shaking slightly as she unfolded it, and then her mind refused to compute what she was seeing. Annabeth’s eyes scanned the page several times, seeing all the words and numbers, but still not registering what it all meant.

“I packed you a bag last night, so you don’t have to worry about that,” Piper said, beaming with pride, after giving Annabeth what should have been enough time to process what the paper in her hands said. “Jason is going to be here in half an hour to take you to the airport, and the car rental and a hotel room are already booked for when you get there.”

“When I get there,” Annabeth repeated, finally looking up at Piper, slack jawed and wide eyed. “But I have plans with everyone today. Like, _everyone_. I can’t just cancel on them.”

Humming softly, Piper reached out and patted Annabeth’s cheek. “ _Everyone_ was in on it. Percy was very thorough to be sure you wouldn’t suspect anything. He asked them all specifically to make fake plans with you.”

“Even my mom?” Annabeth asked, finding that even less believable than the words printed on the paper in her hands.

“Well, no, but I handled your mom,” Piper conceded, nose wrinkling. “She was actually kind of a bitch about it, but whatever. This isn’t about her, it’s about _you_ getting the birthday you’ve always deserved.”

Understanding dawned on Annabeth slowly, and her eyes fell back to the paper in her hands. A plane ticket. To Atlanta. Leaving just after eleven in the morning and landing just before three in the afternoon. Percy’s training schedule didn’t allow him the time to come back to New York for her birthday, so he was bringing Annabeth to him instead, because of course he was. Of course everyone she loved, and who loved her, had conspired to make this surprise happen. Of course Piper had packed her bag already, and Jason was taking her to the airport, and the details had been taken care of, so all she had to do was get on a plane and wait a few hours to be reunited with the man she loved on the day she’d always hated and dreaded most.

Tears stung her eyes and Annabeth ducked her head, turning toward the back of the couch so she could hide while she cried. Piper laughed, reaching out to drag Annabeth away from her hiding place. Those tears continued to flow, though, and she really didn’t want to be seen sobbing like a baby on her twenty-third birthday, not even by Piper.

“You don’t have time to cry,” Piper said, still laughing, and still struggling to get Annabeth out of her hiding spot. “You need to get dressed and, like, brush your hair for at least ten minutes. We’re cutting it dangerously close here already.”

Only because she knew Piper was right, Annabeth forced herself to sit up again, sniffling while she took all of thirty seconds to marshal her emotions. Worst case scenario, she could get more crying in on the plane, but hopefully she would be able to make it through the rest of the day without dissolving into an emotional mess. For the time being, she focused her energy on getting off that couch and rushing to her room to get changed, cleaned up, and tame her hair while chugging down her coffee to offset the fatigue from not sleeping. 

She did stop just long enough to send a text to Percy. At almost eight in the morning, she knew he would be well into his first training session of the day and not available to reply, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t leave him a little something to find when he got a break.

**ANNABETH (07:51AM)**  
you’re in trouble

When Annabeth was almost ready, just standing in front of her closet trying to figure out what to put on for this very important trip, Piper appeared in her doorway with an overnight bag draped over her shoulder. “Don’t worry too much about what to wear. Percy is meeting you at the hotel tonight and I’ve handled your wardrobe.”

“I’m not sure I like the sounds of that,” Annabeth replied, mostly teasing. In reality, not having to think about her clothes came as a relief, and she followed Piper’s instructions by dressing for comfort rather than aesthetic in shorts and a t-shirt.

With a long hug and a few mumbled _happy birthdays_ from Piper, Annabeth was out the door and on her way down to the street to meet Jason. The knowledge that her two friends were so close and not actually seeing each other, or even talking, did, admittedly, dampen her mood slightly. Annabeth had half a mind to tell them all she wanted for her birthday was for them to talk, but she knew that would accomplish nothing aside from making them feel guilty. That conversation wasn’t anything she could force, and they both already knew where she stood on the matter.

“We were supposed to talk about your condo over breakfast today,” Annabeth complained in lieu of greeting Jason, once she’d slid into the backseat of his chauffeured town car and settled herself. 

It was her first time hitching a ride from him and Annabeth chose not to think about the fact that Jason, the same Jason she’d once seen spend an hour stomping around the apartment looking for his glasses when they were on his head the whole time, had _a chauffeured town car_ to drive him around any and all times of day. Her mind still struggled to wrap itself around exactly who Jason was, the power and influence he would one day wield, at least if Jove Grace got his way.

When they’d met, Jason had seemed so normal. Jason was normal, down to earth and genuine. None of that had changed, but all along he’d also been the son of one of the most powerful men in the world and a legendary daytime soap opera star. Annabeth had known those things all the way back to the day after his and Piper’s first date, the entire time she’d known him. Being aware in an abstract fashion and seeing it in such certain, tangible terms was an entirely different thing, though. If anything, it should have been more obvious to her from the start.

Even in the time since Jason’s life had changed, even in the midst of trying to orchestrate the destruction of his image, and even beginning work on his condo, she hadn’t really registered what it all meant. For a split second, sitting beside him in that car, Annabeth felt like there was something else she’d missed in her blindness to Jason’s status, the kind of nagging sensation that made people rush home to check if they’d left the stove on. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but it was there, right in front of her, screaming for her to notice.

“I told you we weren’t doing that,” Jason reminded her, a dazzlingly smug smile on his lips. “You’re not very good at listening when people tell you things.”

Annabeth shook off her strange train of thought, deciding to file it away for later, when it wasn’t her birthday and she wasn’t about to jump on a plane at the last minute to see her boyfriend. “You and I have that in common, Jason.”

“No idea what you’re talking about,” he replied, nose wrinkled but smile unfading. “Happy birthday, Annabeth.”

They did get a little discussion in about Jason’s condo during their ride to the airport, even though Annabeth didn’t have her tablet or sketchbook, mostly because she was genuinely excited about a few of the ideas she’d been playing around with and couldn’t wait to share. Like the first time they’d met after she’d viewed their two options, Jason tried to act interested, but it was a struggle for him. There was only so much she could get done over the next week before they left for Rome, but she hoped in the meantime she would be able to inspire a little actual enthusiasm from him.

Saturday traffic was kind to them, so it didn’t take too long to reach the airport. As the driver pulled up to the drop off zone, Jason grabbed his wallet from a pocket in his blazer. Annabeth watched in confusion as he pulled out a credit card and held it out to her.

“What are you doing?” she asked, eyeing the thing skeptically.

“This is my birthday present,” Jason explained, much too amused by Annabeth’s expression for her liking. “Your car, hotel, and any other expenses this weekend are on me.”

“No,” Annabeth quickly replied, pushing his hand away and shaking her head. “No, absolutely not. Jason, you didn’t even let me get you a birthday present at all, let alone something so extravagant. There’s no way I can accept this.”

Jason clearly refused to take no for an answer, because he continued to hold the card out for her. “Being able to do things like this for the people I care about is all I have right now, Annabeth. Take it. Go wild with the room service and whatever else you want. Enjoy yourself, and have an amazing birthday, for me.”

Accepting that card really did feel like far too much, but Annabeth sighed and took it from him all the same. Jason’s birthday had not been an enjoyable affair for him, that much Annabeth knew from the few details he’d shared and the other things she’d heard and seen in the nearly two weeks since. The party had been more PR stunt than actual celebration, with pictures popping up online and in the news for days afterward, all showcasing the new Grace family heir apparent, with absolutely no mention of his unsavory behavior. It hadn’t been about Jason at all, an experience Annabeth had plenty of firsthand experience with. If making her birthday that much better helped ease a little of his own heartache, she supposed she could live with the guilt that came from accepting his (family’s) money.

“I can’t promise I’ll go wild with the room service or anything, but thank you,” Annabeth said, tucking the card safely in her wallet. After a quick hug there in the backseat of his car, Annabeth said goodbye and climbed out. 

The next hour was a blur of check-in kiosks, airport security, and following signs until she located her departure gate. This flight had her in a different terminal than when she’d gone to Malibu with Piper, Percy and Jason all those months ago, but that didn’t stop her from being reminded of that trip at every turn. Her heart ached for simpler times, when her biggest concerns were finding Percy’s phone where he’d left it in a bathroom and apologizing to Jason for getting caught up in the claw machine when they were supposed to be focused on getting to their gate. Even though she’s just seen Piper and Jason, and would be seeing Percy before long, she missed all three of them. She missed being _together_ with them.

After stopping at a coffee stand to get herself another cup and something to eat, Annabeth settled in at her gate to wait for boarding and finally pulled out her phone. Several people had sent her messages and birthday greetings, but there was only one text she cared about at the moment.

**PERCY (09:02AM)**  
happy bday  
piper said u cried but she didnt get a vid  
im not speaking to her anymore

**ANNABETH (09:34AM)**  
why are you so obsessed with me crying?

During the days, Percy was usually pretty busy. Between workouts in the pool, time in the weight room, team building activities with his fellow swimmers, the TV spots all athletes had to record ahead of the games, and all the promotional photo shoots they were participating in, there had been plenty to keep him occupied the last couple weeks. He’d made an effort to keep regular contact when he could steal a minute or two every few hours, and they called every night before they went to sleep, but Annabeth didn’t expect quick replies to her texts. Apparently Percy was not going to settle for every few hours today, though, because Annabeth’s phone buzzed not three minutes later.

**PERCY (09:36AM)**  
bc its cute as fuck  
ur cute as fuck  
idk if u kno this but im kinda in love with u

**ANNABETH (09:37AM)**  
only kinda?

**PERCY (09:38AM)**  
definitely only kinda  
a lil tiny bit

**ANNABETH (09:40M)**  
maybe it’s not worth getting on this plane, then

**PERCY (09:41AM)**  
that’s cold beth  
ur ticket is non-refundable

**ANNABETH (09:42AM)**  
all you care about is getting your money back?  
i see how it is

**PERCY (09:45AM)**  
actually theres one more thing i care about

**ANNABETH (09:46AM)**  
what’s that?

Annabeth prepared herself for something cheesy that would make her roll her eyes while smiling so wide it hurt. Part of her even kind of _wanted_ him to say something like that, just because it was her birthday and she was still giddy over the fact that Percy had surprised her with flying out to see him when she’d resigned herself to suffering the day without him. She waited for his reply, sipping on her coffee and nibbling on her breakfast sandwich, her anticipation growing exponentially as each minute passed, until she almost wanted to text him to hurry up even though she knew he had probably been swept away in some responsibility or other.

When Percy’s text finally came – a string of them, actually – he didn’t just feed her some teasing, lighthearted, cheesy line, and for the second time that day, Annabeth’s eyes stung with tears from being so overwhelmingly loved and understood.

**PERCY (09:54AM)**  
the team is allowed to go out and do stuff in our free time at night but we still have a stupid curfew  
so i cant stay with u tonight  
before i get there i want u to think about if u want to  
u kno  
and if u dont we can just rent a movie or smth  
all i expect tonight is to be with u  
dont think we have to have sex

For a minute, all Annabeth could do was read the messages over, blinking her eyes frantically and biting down on her lip to try stemming her tears. She honestly hadn’t considered not being able to spend the whole night together, and the idea of having to let him go after just a few hours together did put a damper on her excitement, but his thoughtfulness outweighed that negativity tenfold. 

If he’d waited to tell her this when they saw each other, Annabeth had no doubt she would have shrugged it off and given into the high of their reunion, even though she might regret it later. On any other day, it might not have mattered so much. They’d had quick sex and rushed off after plenty of times before. Her birthday was different, though, because her wounds always felt a little less healed on July twelfth, and the loneliness she’d experienced the day she turned eighteen a little harder to forget. By telling her ahead of time, Percy allowed Annabeth a chance to decide with a clear head what she could or couldn’t handle, so that when she looked back there would be nothing but good, happy things to remember.

Before she could even begin to process an answer to give to him, Annabeth’s phone buzzed again.

**PERCY (09:58AM)**  
really think about it  
u dont have to decide right now  
this is ur day so u call the shots

**ANNABETH (10:00AM)**  
i call the shots every day

**PERCY (10:01AM)**  
hmmm agree to disagree  
we gotta get back to work here tho

**ANNABETH (10:02AM)**  
thank you  
i love you and i can’t wait to see you

**PERCY (10:02AM)**  
love u too bday girl

In the half hour before boarding, Annabeth leaned back in her seat, finished her breakfast, continued to sip her coffee, and _thought_.

She tried forcing herself to dig deep into the memories of her eighteenth birthday, to dip into that pain so she could gauge how much of it she could handle, but every time she started, something would distract her. One of the attendants at the counter made an announcement overhead. A young couple across the waiting area struggled to collapse a stroller. Some teenagers rushed past the gate, chasing each other deeper into the airport as they shouted at passersby to get out of their way.

Time was almost up when Annabeth realized she wasn’t getting distracted, she just didn’t want to think about it. She didn’t need to think about it. The answer was already right there – it was in the ticket Piper had printed out, folded neatly in Annabeth’s purse to be kept as a memento of the day; it was in Jason’s credit card, burning the most obnoxious hole ever in Annabeth’s wallet; and, most importantly, it was in a string of text messages on Annabeth’s phone, evidence of a love she still couldn’t fully believe was her own. 

_This_ birthday was not _that_ birthday, it was entirely unlike any birthday she’d ever had, and Annabeth had long decided that her past would no longer cast a shadow on her present, anyway.


	116. Chapter 116

Sending Annabeth away on her birthday felt weird, and very bittersweet, so Piper found herself shuffling around the apartment aimlessly after saying goodbye that Saturday morning. Nothing could hold her attention for more than a few minutes at a time – not reading, not watching TV, not catching up on chores, not playing around on her phone. Even Bob, usually good for a decent distraction, failed to keep her occupied long when she pulled out one of his wand toys.

In her heart, Piper knew this was the best way for Annabeth to spend her birthday. After years of lackluster birthdays, at best, jetting off for a surprise night alone with the love of her life was what Annabeth deserved. Hopefully this would be the first of a lifetime of marvelous, magical birthdays that inspired nothing but joy and smiles. Piper even dared to hope Annabeth might someday agree to a proper party, but that would be a discussion for another day, and would probably require a fair amount of cajoling from multiple people to make happen. It was no longer just Piper trying to make Annabeth’s birthdays bright, though. A whole team of them had schemed to make today happen, and more schemes undoubtedly waited in their futures.

Those comforting thoughts didn’t help her focus, though, and by noon Piper decided she needed to get out of the apartment. Going out for lunch killed another hour, but it still wasn’t enough. These days, nothing was ever enough. Piper’s life had turned into a string of distractions, only just barely carrying her through a near constant, unnerving agitation.

One too many glances at her phone in the afternoon made her realize there was more to her listlessness than sadness over missing out on Annabeth’s birthday or simple boredom. In the days since she’d sent Jason that text, she hadn’t been able to go more than a half hour without checking her phone. Every time, she’d find it unchanged – a little green check mark, the word _read_ , and nothing else. Annabeth told Piper that Jason had smiled when he received the message, and she’d tried to understand he might need time to decide how to reply, but it had been five full days. Smile or not, Piper needed to accept that he wasn’t going to text her back any time soon.

Jason had told her he would see her in Rome, and that potentially loaded promise had given her hope once, but it had come before Drew Tanaka’s party. That night had changed things. At least, she assumed it had changed things. Piper couldn’t imagine he still felt the same – however it was he had felt when he made that promise – after what she’d said to him.

 _Talk to him_ , Annabeth’s voice said in Piper’s mind, in her most incessant, nagging tone.

Piper had tried, though. She’d extended an olive branch, opened up the line of communication between them, and Jason had not taken it. There was nothing Piper could do if _he_ didn’t want to talk to her.

Around four Piper got a small respite from her suffering – a message from Annabeth, who had just landed in Atlanta. Even just over text, she could sense Annabeth’s joy and excitement. Those few, quick exchanges only further solidified what Piper had been thinking all along – letting Annabeth go to Percy had been the right call. She supposed that was something she was going to have to get used to, entrusting Percy with her best friend’s happiness. At least there was no one in the world she would have trusted more implicitly with that duty than Percy. If she had to pass that torch to anyone, she was glad it was him.

Relief didn’t last long, though, because Annabeth had to rush off to pick up her rental car and check in at her hotel so she could get ready before Percy arrived. Piper expected a few more texts later, once Annabeth finally dug into that bag that had been packed for her, but other distractions would be required to get Piper through that night.

She decided to start with something simple – a shower. The quick one she’d taken after her run had not felt sufficient, so she spent the better part of an hour scrubbing down and freshening up. By the time she stepped out, Piper knew she wouldn’t be able to handle staying in, which presented her with the question of who she should call to potentially go out with.

Still considering her options while combing through her closet, trying to decide who she would feel least like a bother for reaching out to, Piper was struck by a flash of the last time she’d had this very idea. It had been two full weeks since that night, but the memories remained fresh in her mind. Again, she zeroed in on that unanswered text, and she glanced at her phone, glaring at the device accusingly, as if daring it to finally receive a message she had a sinking feeling would never come. The thing didn’t so much as light up, so Piper turned back around and focused back in on her closet.

This time, once she had pulled on a t-shirt, Piper decided to call Will. She hadn’t seen him since picking him up on Tuesday. Considering how social Will was, Piper figured he already had plans, but she wanted to see him and opted to gamble. It paid off. Will _did_ have plans, but he was excited to hear from Piper all the same, the smile in his voice warm and soothing even over the phone, because he’d been wanting her to come out and meet his friends for a while. Those very friends were the ones he already had plans with.

Will and his crew weren’t meeting for a few more hours when Piper called, but having something to look forward to made filling the time much easier. Since they were just going out to a bar Will frequented, Piper kept her outfit simple, opting for a distressed denim skirt, fitted crop top and slip on sneakers, with her hair left down. She was oddly nervous about meeting his friends, probably because he’d become so important to her over the last few months. These were people she would be crossing paths with often, if not seeing regularly, and if they didn’t like her it would fill the future with strained, awkward encounters. Or, worse, it would leave Will rethinking his opinion of her.

Refusing to leave space for negative thoughts, Piper kept her mind in the present. She finished getting ready. She replied to a very satisfying text when Annabeth discovered the little surprise that Piper had packed away. She fed Bob his canned dinner. She packed herself a purse with overnight necessities just in case she ended up crashing with Will.

The night air was muggy when Piper headed out, the sun only just beginning to set. She caught a cab to take her across town, a little ahead of schedule, but she preferred arriving at the bar first to sitting around the apartment another second. Being punctual, maybe even snagging them a table before the bar started to crowd, would help make a better impression on Will’s friends, as well.

Most college bars were more or less the same – low lighting, ample seating areas, pool tables, a stage for live music, some kind of niche décor added as an afterthought in an attempt to make the place stand out a little. This bar was no exception, but Piper found the predictability comforting. Despite never having been there herself, she still felt like she had, and didn’t feel awkward even when she ordered her first drink and then selected a table on her own. Her drink, of course, was virgin, both because she didn’t feel like cheating her sleep hygiene routine and because last time she’d had a drink her night had sucked. Tonight would not be a repeat of the catastrophe Drew’s party turned out to be. 

It didn’t take long for Will to arrive, one of his friends at his side. While Piper had never met the girl, she recognized Lavinia from pictures and Will’s descriptions immediately. Lavinia stood a couple inches taller than Will, all long limbs and graceful posture. Her bobbed, bright pink hair was tied into low pigtails and she wore a simple, loose fitting t-shirt and shorts, confirming that Piper had not under dressed for the night. Both she and Will smiled when Piper waved to them, weaving through the bar’s other tables and patrons quickly.

“Have you been waiting long?” Will asked, clearly noting the drink in Piper’s hand.

Piper shook her head, nervous excitement bubbling in her stomach as she watched Lavinia give her a cursory once over. “It’s been maybe five minutes, don’t worry.”

“Cool,” Will replied, his smile widening into his near blinding trademark grin. He dove right into introductions then, giving a ridiculous amount of emphasis to the fact that Piper was his new, older sister. Once that awkward courtesy had been observed, Will asked Lavinia for her drink order and hurried off to the bar.

Will had just returned from the bar when the rest of his friends arrived, not needing to be waved over since they spotted Lavinia’s brightly colored hair as soon as they walked in. More introductions were made by Will, this time to Lou Ellen and Cecil in turn, another round of drinks were ordered, and the group finally settled in at the table.

“Do you all go to Columbia?” Piper asked, trying to remember the few details Will had shared about his friends.

“Cecil and I do,” Lou Ellen answered, pointing to Cecil beside her with her thumb. Piper was pretty sure Will had told her those two were dating, but she couldn’t be sure and didn’t want to ask. “Vin goes to Julliard for dance.”

“Right,” Piper replied, tilting her glass toward Lavinia. “I remember Will mentioning that when Paul asked about you.”

Lavinia snorted a laugh into her drink. “I can’t believe you guys are friends with _Mr. Blofis_.”

“Technically we’re friends with his kids,” Will corrected, the look of exasperation on his face making Piper think they’d had that exchange several times before. “I’ve only met him twice.”

“I’ve also only met him twice, actually,” Piper said, though she’d be spending a fair amount of time with and around Paul in the coming weeks when they all left for Rome. “So, how did all of you meet, then?”

“Lou and I met at Columbia iQ, which is a club for LGBTQ students in STEM fields, during orientation week freshman year,” Will explained, Lou Ellen nodding along enthusiastically. “She’s majoring in biochem, so we’ve actually ended up having a lot of classes together, too.”

“Then I met Cecil at a mixer a few weeks later,” Lou Ellen picked up, but immediately held her palm up to as a cue for Cecil to take over.

It took Cecil a second to understand her signal, in the midst of taking a drink of his beer. “Oh, and I’ve known Vin since we were little. Our families go to the same synagogue.”

The group fell into a rotation of story telling after that – everything from Cecil describing the scandal Lavinia caused by taking a girl named Daniella as her date to her bat mitzvah, to Lou Ellen recounting an incident in one of their first chemistry labs when Will had mixed up some chemicals and the entire building had needed to evacuate as a result, to Lavinia sharing a few anecdotes about Paul, Percy and Leo from high school. Piper mostly listened, but she jumped in at the first opportunity to make sure everyone at the table knew the story of her stumbling upon Will and his bartender friend at their parents’ wedding. In the midst of their laughter, free flowing drinks, and just general warmth, Piper didn’t even have a chance to register a pang of longing at the thought of Jason’s part in that story, or that day, or how it so perfectly encompassed every single thing she missed about him.

Well over an hour into their time together, the bar growing louder and more crowded by the second, they decided it was time to snag one of the pool tables and play a few games. Piper had never cared much for pool, mostly because she was bad at it, but also because Annabeth was annoyingly good at it. Playing with this group didn’t change the fact that Piper sucked, but she didn’t feel quite as irritated by losing against them as against her rude best friend.

Halfway through their second game, Will approached and nudged Piper gently with his elbow. “Nine o’clock.”

“It’s almost ten,” Piper replied, staring back at him blankly.

Will stared back at her, equally expressionless. “I don’t mean the time, Piper.”

“Then what do you mean, William?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.

“I mean there’s a hottie at nine o’clock who’s been checking you out for the last twenty minutes,” he said, heaving a heavy sigh over having to spell it out to her so explicitly.

Piper’s eyes scanned the room while she worked out what location _nine o’clock_ would be and they landed on a woman sitting at a table a few feet away. There was no denying she was checking Piper out from the blatant way she stared, and when they made eye contact, mostly accidentally on Piper’s part, she gave a cursory nod of acknowledgment. Will was right about her being hot, with striking features, short, dark hair and a few, very flattering, facial piercings. While Piper had never had a real specific type where women were concerned, this one certainly ticked enough boxes to exceed Piper’s standards.

“So, what?” Piper asked, quickly averting her gaze and focusing back on the game of pool at hand, just in time to see Lavinia land a ball in one of the corner pockets.

“Thought you might like to know,” Will told her, also focused on the game, and shrugged.

“I’m not interested in hooking up,” she said, a knot quickly forming in the pit of her stomach. Her grip on the pool cue she’d been holding tightened.

“Didn’t say you were,” he replied, his voice taking on a lightly defensive tone. “You could go over to talk to her without hooking up, though. It might be good for you.”

First taking a sidelong glance at Will, Piper’s eyes settled back on the woman in question. She’d gone back to talking with the guy sitting with her at the table. A year ago, Piper wouldn’t have hesitated to go over and say hello. A year ago, Piper would have been _excited_ to do that very thing.

Old, bad habits called to Piper, tempting her, daring her to do exactly as Will suggested. Going as long as she had the last couple months without at _least_ hooking up with someone had been rare for Piper since she’d graduated and moved to New York. The idea of giving in and taking comfort from the touch of a stranger appealed to her a little too strongly now. It would be easy enough, natural, maybe even the safe thing to do, in a strange way, but Piper could only imagine feeling worse after. Desperation for any kind of relief, even momentary, from the soul crushing longing she almost constantly felt might outweigh the risk of exacerbating her pain, though.

She had offered Jason her friendship. It felt like all she had the right to hope for after what she’d said at Drew’s party, but she hadn’t truly considered what _friendship_ with Jason would look like. This is what it would be, she realized, and all that would be possible if she went over to that table and initiated some kind of conversation.

Friendship would mean moving on, flirting at bars, hooking up with strangers, running herself to the ground in search of something to fill the void in her heart. Friendship would mean simply orbiting each other, mostly through their mutual friends – the same parties, holidays, and get togethers; casual conversations about work or the weather; awkwardly looking for some kind of out, or for another friend to swoop in and rescue them. Friendship would mean watching _him_ move on, even from a distance, and her own heart breaking over and over again in the process.

If just the smile and touch she had witnessed at Drew’s party, and had no reason to think was anything but friendliness, could leave her so shattered, Piper knew she wouldn’t be able to handle seeing Jason involved in something more with even a hint of rationality. No matter how many months or years passed, no matter how many of her own flings and halfhearted relationships filled the gap between _now_ and _then_ , the day Piper arrived at someone’s birthday, or a friendly dinner, and saw Jason’s arm around another woman, it would gut her.

On the day he got married, Piper would sit at home – uninvited, because people didn’t invite their exes and first loves to their weddings – and watch her friends get dressed up, go without her, post pictures of the celebration on social media, then come back with smiles and stories of beautiful dresses and unquestionable love. Maybe she would find someone else who could make her feel safe enough to dream of an ending other than pain again, too, and then it would be her wedding day. Their friends would stand at her side, watch her from pews, take their pictures, and bring their stories back to Jason instead. He wouldn’t be there, though, because people didn’t invite their exes and first loves to their weddings.

They would be happy for each other, genuinely, and for Piper that was the worst part. Worse than the pain she knew she’d feel first seeing him with someone else, worse than the regression into unhealthy habits, worse than the guaranteed awkwardness, was the fact that she knew, one day, she would be glad for his happiness without her. In time Piper could give Jason real, if not distant, friendship, but she didn’t want it. She wanted to be happy _with_ him, not _for_ him.

Being with him would never be so simple, though. There would still be a price to pay. That had not changed just because Piper had more clarity of mind than she’d had in May. Even just telling Jason the truth about what had caused this rift between them came with the risk of retaliation from Jove, but _being with_ Jason would be a guaranteed front row seat to Piper’s own destruction.

And yet, standing there, looking her future all but literally in the eye, Piper knew that being with Jason was still the better option. It always had been.

“I need to go,” Piper said in a whisper, tears stinging her eyes. Louder, with more confidence, she repeated, “I need to go.”

Will reached out to stop her before Piper had even taken a step. “Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I’ll drop it.”

“No,” she replied, frantically taking stock of her position, her mind racing at a thousand miles a minute, her heart rate rising and breathing becoming labored in a matter of seconds. “No, you didn’t make me uncomfortable. That’s not it, I just– I just need to go.”

“Are you okay?” he pressed, though he let her pass to put her cue up and grab her purse from the hook on the wall.

That was a very good question, and Piper didn’t quite know how to answer it. Over seven full weeks had passed since she’d broken up with Jason, an insignificant period in the grand scheme of things, but it might as well have been a lifetime. Many times she’d said she was okay. Most of those times she had actually believed it herself. Piper wasn’t sure it had ever really been true, though. Not once in close to two months had she truly been okay, because she couldn’t be okay so long as the cloud of her lie hung over her head, and she might never be okay again if she didn’t _go_ right that minute.

“I think I will be,” Piper told Will, the closest thing to honesty she could muster without explaining her feelings in depth. This was not the place or time for her to explain.

Quick goodbyes and several apologies for running out so early in the evening were exchanged with Cecil, Lavinia and Lou Ellen. Piper considered herself lucky that they all seemed more concerned than they did upset at her bailing on their first meeting. After promising to text Will later, Piper rushed out the front door and onto the street, her heart in her throat and pounding harder by the second.

Hailing a cab in the heart of Manhattan at ten on a Saturday was a futile quest, so Piper didn’t even try. Her feet could take her where she needed to go quicker than a car could, anyway, and she doubted her nervous energy would let her keep her sanity if she tried sitting that long. Piper’s energy was much better served jogging the several blocks she needed to travel, weaving through other pedestrians and bouncing on the balls of her feet the one time she had to stop and wait for a crosswalk. Nightfall had not made it much cooler, but she didn’t let the heat of that summer night slow her down. Aimlessness and indecision had crippled her too long. She’d made her decision, she knew exactly where she needed to go. 

Even as her feet carried her with confidence through the city, Piper knew she was racing toward danger. In all her imagining, she could only see this ending in disaster.

 _Let it, then_ , she thought. 

Disaster was the constant state in which Piper lived. It lurked around every corner, waiting to pounce. It always found new and impressive ways to catch her completely off guard. It showed up at her door and insisted she invite it into her own home, sit back and watch while it wreaked havoc. It took countless different forms – Fredrick, Luke, Jove, Dylan – and it had sunk its painful claws into her long before the night of graduation. Running away had done her no good. The time had come for Piper to run headlong into the fire, instead.

The air conditioning of Grace Tower washed over her like a blessing from heaven itself when she walked in the front door. Thanks to weeks of daily runs, Piper wasn’t nearly as winded as she might have been a few months earlier, even with the lingering mugginess outside leaving her covered in a thin layer of sweat. She dug into her purse for a hair tie as she approached the building’s front desk, manned twenty-four-seven. Luck was on Piper’s side that night – a younger man named Butch, who Piper had always gotten along well with, stood behind the desk. He smiled in greeting, a slightly surprised expression after not having seen her in so many weeks, but clearly glad to see her all the same. Without hesitation, he agreed to call right up when she asked.

Piper’s luck ended with Butch, however. After a minute on the phone, he frowned and hung up. “No one’s answering. They’re probably all out.”

“No one?” Piper asked, her shoulders drooping as she finished tying up her hair and her arms fell to her sides.

“I can try again,” he offered, but he didn’t sound very confident it would make a difference.

She shook her head, at a loss for words, and glanced around the lobby. That time of night the place was empty, quiet, almost eerie. Even before she’d broken up with Jason, Piper rarely felt like she belonged there, at least outside his apartment. Now, more than ever, she felt like an intruder. Dressed so casually, covered in sweat, just about everyone else would probably consider her one, too.

“I’ll wait,” she finally decided, pointing toward the small lounge area right in front of the bank of elevators. This time when she repeated herself, it was in a whisper, not meant to be heard, simply reinforcing her resolve. Nothing would stop her now. “I’ll wait.”


	117. Chapter 117

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter contains explicit content.

Annabeth had the most ridiculous friends in the world.

First, when she landed in Atlanta and made her way to the car rental desk, she discovered the car reserved for her was pure luxury. No wonder Jason had insisted on her taking his credit card. Annabeth considered asking for them to give her something more sensible instead, just because it seemed so wasteful to get such an expensive car when she’d be driving it maybe three times total and it was only her there to enjoy it, but she didn’t. Imagining the bad time everyone would give her about _downgrading_ left her with no real choice.

Second, and this she at least knew before landing, her hotel reservation was with the Four Seasons, a five-star hotel in the heart of downtown Atlanta. When she got to the front desk, Annabeth half feared she would be informed they had reserved the presidential suite for her or something. Thankfully, her room was relatively modest. Aside from gorgeous, modern furnishings and a marble covered bathroom, the only extravagance that had been splurged on came in the form of a small, attached terrace overlooking the city. Even that simple room came with a massive price tag she decided not to think about, since the Graces were footing the bill.

The last ridiculous surprise, and probably one she should have expected, came when Annabeth finally opened the overnight bag Piper had packed for her and actually looked into it beyond pulling out a Ziplock of toiletries at airport security. On top of the carefully packed and organized contents sat a pair of cotton shorts and one of Percy’s t-shirts, normal sleepwear for Annabeth and therefore inconspicuous. Next came a change of underwear and a simple outfit for her to wear home the next day, just the blend of comfortable and casual Annabeth preferred for flying, further evidence of how well her best friend knew her. At the very bottom Annabeth discovered a thin, rectangular garment box, and she knew exactly what she would find inside before she even picked it up.

 _Figured you would need this! Happy birthday_ , read a post-it note attached to the top of the box, scribbled in piper’s messy script and adorned by several hearts and a winking smiley face.

With a fond sigh, Annabeth pulled the box out and carefully opened. Resting delicately in tissue paper, she discovered a dark blue _La Perla_ lingerie set – bra, panties and suspender belt with matching, intricate lace patterns, and a pair of stockings in the same shade. Suspicions confirmed. Annabeth might have been upset, but after Percy’s texts earlier in the day, the gift seemed especially perfect. Since he’d told her to give him her answer when he arrived, this provided her the perfect opportunity to make a very bold statement.

She couldn’t help pulling her phone out immediately and shooting Piper a text.

 **ANNABETH (05:44PM)**  
i’m not sure what you think is happening here tonight  
but also, you kind of forgot condoms  
not that they’ll be needed

 **PIPER (05:46PM)**  
so did not  
check the side pocket dork

Admittedly, Annabeth hadn’t even noticed the bag’s side pocket. As instructed, she unzipped it and pulled out a small box of condoms. She really should have known Piper better.

 **ANNABETH (05:50PM)**  
my bad. carry on  
(and thank you and i love you)  
(not that any of this will be put to use)

 **PIPER (05:51PM)**  
uhuh i’m so sure  
love you too  
happy birthday

After Annabeth took a few more minutes to organize herself, it was just past six. Percy’s swimming schedule had him officially free to do as he pleased between eight in the evening and his curfew at one. It wasn’t nearly as much time as she would have liked, especially with travel time to and from his training facility eating into those five precious hours, but they were also the greatest gift she’d ever been given. She would not be squandering them.

Annabeth showered first, taking her time to scrub extra clean. After that, wrapped up in a cozy, complementary robe, she ordered herself dinner off the room service menu. Part of Percy’s training was adhering to a strict, nutritionist regulated diet, which meant he wouldn’t be able to eat with her and there was no sense in waiting for him to eat. In the time it took for her meal to be brought up, Annabeth blow dried her hair and went to war taming it. She might have opted to just tie it up for the ease of it if she didn’t know how much Percy enjoyed when she wore it down. It was her birthday, but she couldn’t help wanting to spoil him in return for all he’d prepared, her stomach slowly filling with excited butterflies as the hands on the clock approached eight.

Only after Percy texted that he was on his way to the hotel did Annabeth start getting herself into the lingerie Piper had prepared. Since the set was simple, it didn’t take her long, and then she stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom, assessing her own appearance carefully. Everything fit perfectly, as if it had been made for her specifically, and even she thought the deep shade of blue looked good on her. Less than two full weeks had passed since she’d seen Percy off to Atlanta, but she still felt nervous about this reunion. 

Being apart had come with a learning curve of sorts, and missing him had only been half the battle. Annabeth was secure in their relationship, and she trusted Percy completely, but that hadn’t prevented insecurity from rearing its ugly head. While researching what to expect at the Olympics, Annabeth had also read a lot of editorials and interviews about how crazy things could get among athletes, with adrenaline running high and hormones running rampant. Percy was in close quarters with a lot of fit, attractive women during training. While she didn’t think, even for a second, he would so much as consider cheating on her, thoughts he might now find her disappointing in comparison to the many exceptional women around him still seeped through her defenses.

There was no time for insecurity tonight, though. Annabeth took a deep, steadying breath and silently thanked Piper for the extra boost of confidence the delicate lace and perfect fit of that lingerie provided, then hurried off to get herself ready for the moment of truth.

When checking in, Annabeth had left Percy’s name with the front desk so he could pick up a key and let himself in, which gave her the perfect opportunity to maximize the effect of her surprise. As soon as a text came announcing he’d arrived at the hotel, Annabeth rushed to position herself on the bed. She regretted not thinking ahead about a pose, but went with her gut instinct. Just as she heard shuffling outside the door, Annabeth had arranged herself on her side, propped up on one elbow, her legs extended across the bed and her hair draped over one shoulder. Her heart pounded in anticipation, making her a little dizzy as she waited to hear the sounds of beeping and clicking that announced Percy had arrived.

Percy started singing _Happy Birthday_ as soon as he was in the door, before he’d cleared the entryway and could see her. The colorful bouquet of helium filled balloons he carried came into view first, then Percy stepped into the open space of the room and froze in his tracks, his song cut off before he’d finished, “ _Happy birthday, dear Ann_ – Oh.”

“Are you not going to finish your song?” Annabeth asked, her heart racing painfully fast, and she was almost embarrassed by the slight waiver in her own voice.

Frozen in place, Percy’s mouth opened and closed like a fish while his eyes traveled the length of her body several times, effectively stunned to silence. Any doubts or insecurity she had harbored leading up to that moment melted away, leaving Annabeth nothing but giddy and proud of her successful surprise. It was another thirty seconds before he managed to move, though all he did was release the bouquet of balloons in his hand so he could cover his gaping mouth with his hand instead. The other hand, Annabeth noticed, was occupied carrying a very small cake box.

When he remained unmoved, Annabeth finally let out a laugh. “Just going to stand there and stare all night?”

“I…” he started, muffled behind his hand, and then took another handful of seconds to come up with any more words. Finally, beginning to process what he was seeing, his hand dropped to his side to reveal an awed smile. “Maybe, yeah. Holy fuck, Beth.”

“I promise I thought about what you said,” she assured him, the teasing lilt to her voice fading.

He nodded, his breathing beginning to grow uneven, and his eyes continued to roam her body, though after those initial sweeps, they were more inclined to linger on what she knew were his favorite parts. “Gonna be real with you, I kind of expected this to go the other way.”

“Disappointed?” Annabeth asked, her lighthearted tone returning just as quickly as it had gone. It was plainly obvious Percy felt absolutely no disappointment.

“Mostly confused,” Percy replied, his smile growing as the shock continued to wear off. “You do realize today is _your_ birthday and not mine, right? Like, you didn’t get the dates mixed up?”

“Don’t worry, I’m well aware that I’m now older than you,” she assured him, laughing again, her earlier anxiety forgotten even though he hadn’t even touched her yet. It still disarmed her how easily his voice, smile, and gaze could put her at ease. Not being able to experience those things in person the last two weeks really had left a hole in her heart. “Considering the fact that it is _my_ birthday, though, I think you’re a little over dressed right now.”

Not needing to be told twice, Percy finally moved from where he’d been frozen so long. He crossed to the nightstand and safely deposited the cake box there, presumably for _after_ , and then shrugged out of his shirt in matter of seconds. Annabeth watched, remaining reclined, drinking in the sight of him – two weeks of hard training and carefully managed diets had only served to further exaggerate every line on his already ridiculously defined body. When his hands moved for the button and zipper on his jeans, blood rushed through her veins and turned her entire body hot with anticipation, and she couldn’t just sit back and watch. She pushed herself up, crawling on her knees toward the edge of the bed where he stood. 

In a blink, her lips were on his skin – somewhere in the middle of his chest, she really didn’t care so long as she was touching him – and her hands on his waist, pulling him closer. Percy shimmied out of his jeans carefully, Annabeth able to feel the pounding of his heart through his chest where her lips made contact. This had definitely been the right call. Annabeth didn’t think she would have been able to keep her hands off him for five whole hours if she’d tried, already desperate to touch and kiss him everywhere when it hadn’t even been five minutes.

While Percy had been away, they’d talked plenty between texts, phone calls, and FaceTime. Their conversations had often turned flirtatious, but the few times they’d tried to cross into something more intimate or sexual, they’d failed miserably. Percy couldn’t really get into sexting. Annabeth got shy trying to articulate herself over the phone. Neither of them felt entirely comfortable on camera. Going a couple weeks without sex was not the end of the world, but Annabeth really had missed the intimacy, and she doubted anything long distance would have been able to replicate the way touching him and being touched by him felt, anyway.

Once his pants were off and his hands were free, he reached for her face, tilting it up, and then his lips were claiming hers, rough and hungry. It might as well have been years since he’d last kissed her, with how powerful the effect of that simple touch proved. They got lost in it – Annabeth still kneeling on the edge of the bed and Percy standing, time becoming distant to make way for kneading lips, nipping teeth and eager tongues. Her hands wandered, tracing the muscles of his abdomen, which became increasingly taut in response to her touch, and around to the broad expanse of his back. His hands remained stationary, though, cradling her face as if she were the most delicate and precious thing in the world.

“I missed you so much,” Percy whispered when they reluctantly pulled apart to catch their breath. “I’m going to miss you even more the next week and a half, too.”

“Are we just ridiculous for not being able to go less than a month without seeing each other?” Annabeth asked, surprising even herself with the raw emotion in her voice, a blend of fear and shame for being so dependent.

Percy sensed the tension in her and tilted her head toward him again, eyes hard and insistent. “We would have made it the whole three weeks just fine, but these are special circumstances. There was no way I was going to miss your birthday.”

“I love you,” she replied, staring up at his face in complete disbelief that he could not only be real, but be hers. “Thank you for flying me out, Percy. I really wasn’t looking forward to trying to get through today without you.”

“I love you, too,” he said, the words barely holding a candle to the sentiment behind his voice, “but I had a lot of help.”

Annabeth couldn’t help rolling her eyes at him, full of exasperation and adoration. “The birthday girl demands you take full credit for what you did today. No trying to pass the buck allowed. This was your doing.”

“And if I don’t do as the birthday girl demands?” Percy asked, one eyebrow quirking up and a cheeky, lopsided smile pulling at his lips.

Not breaking eye contact, her hands trailing along Percy’s skin and down to the front of his underwear so she could palm his already prominent erection, Annabeth reflected his smile with a taunting one of her own. His sharp intake of breath at her touch was immensely satisfying. “Defying the birthday girl can only end in suffering.”

Letting out something between a whine and a growl, Percy leaned down and crushed his lips to hers again, and then he climbed into bed, making her shuffle backward in the midst of that kiss and her continued teasing. Percy’s hands also moved, dropping from her face so that one arm could snake around her waist and the other could slip between her thighs. His palm rubbed against the thin, delicate lace of her lingerie and stoked the flames already smoldering in the pit of her stomach. Slow, light, teasing touches ensued – her hand squeezing and rubbing the bulge in his underwear, his fingers pressing against her most sensitive spots and brushing against her thighs.

She was beginning to think he might tease her all night, but his thumb pressed a little harder against her clit through her panties and Annabeth let out a whine in reply. Apparently Percy couldn’t take any more after that. He pushed aside the thin layer covering her and pressed two fingers inside, his thumb once again finding her clit, this time making wonderfully direct contact.

Having his hand in and on her felt so good, Annabeth had to break their kiss. Her lips dipped to his shoulder instead, mouthing lazily against his skin as her hips moved in tandem with his hand. All that teasing, paired with two weeks of not being touched at all, left her especially sensitive, and every twist and press of his fingers inside her grew that much more intense. It was almost embarrassing how quickly her breathing became ragged, the movement of her hips rough and demanding, and the sounds slipping past her lips desperate and pleading. He echoed her, but with encouraging whispers and an endless string of praises punctuated with the occasional, subdued moan when her hand squeezed him through his underwear a little harder, all of it music to her ears.

Her first orgasm came in an understated wave of relief and fulfillment and bliss, better than any she’d given herself the last two weeks, a birthday gift in and of itself. It passed quickly, heightening her sensitivity even further, and as Percy continued to pump his fingers within her, she continued to twitch and shift against him. When she lifted her head to look at him, a little hazy in the wake of her release, she found him wearing the playfully smug smile he always donned when she came for him.

“Happy birthday,” Percy said, his eyes only becoming brighter as she slowly began to fall into another round of unspoken begging in response to his unending fingering.

“Shut up,” Annabeth replied, the hoarseness of her voice unfortunately taking the edge off her words.

That response only made him smile wider, brighter, and he leaned in to brush his nose against hers and let his lips do the same. “Love you, too.”

Unable to stand even a second more of his relentless fingers, Annabeth twisted and pushed Percy down, and he finally retracted his hand. He could have fought her, but he didn’t, his smile unfading as he fell back against the bed and she moved to straddle him. In a sweet attempt at revenge, she pressed her hips down against his, watching with pride as his eyes fluttered closed after the first few, taunting rolls of her hips. She wanted to continue teasing him with that simple friction, but his fingers had worked her too effectively and teasing him would unfortunately mean teasing herself, too.

“Don’t take it off,” Percy said thickly, his eyes opening again and his hands coming to rest on the curve of her waist.

“Your underwear?” Annabeth asked in confusion, because that was what her hands had just started to move to do, her fingers already hooked under his waistband.

That goddamned smile returned, and his hands inched up to squeeze her breasts. “Yours.”

Considering the price tag on _La Perla_ lingerie, Annabeth was especially glad Percy seemed to be getting so much enjoyment out of her little ensemble, unable to hold in the laughter that bubbled out of her at his request. Her fingers curled into the waistband of his underwear and pulled them down without any more deliberation. Tossing them aside once she’d pulled them off entirely, Annabeth wrapped her hand around his erection to stroke him lightly and leaned to the nightstand to grab a condom. His hands continued to knead her breasts, alternating between a gentle groping and direct teasing of her nipples through the lace covered fabric of her bra, a very distracting manner that had her arching encouragingly into the touch.

Hands fumbling in excitement, she managed to tear open the condom wrapper and roll it on him with minimal trouble. Percy’s eyes stayed locked on her the entire time, watching, memorizing every detail. Annabeth had no doubt about that, because she was doing the same, just the way she had back on their last night together in Omaha. These mental snapshots, fresher in her mind than those others, were going to serve her well in the next week and a half.

Annabeth positioned herself carefully above him, one hand pushing her underwear aside and the other guiding Percy inside her. His hands fell again to her hips when she eased herself down on him, squeezing hard as a contented sigh slipped past his lips. A soft moan slipped past her own lips, Annabeth’s toes curled at the eternally strange, and yet wonderfully familiar, sensation of being stretched and filled. She leaned forward once she’d settled, catching his lips before beginning to move her hips again.

It was her birthday, so Annabeth took her time riding Percy, letting the tension in her core continue to build as her hips rolled back and forth. She kissed him slow and long, bodies pressed together, not giving in when he tried to encourage her to quicken her pace. Eventually she broke the kiss, grazing lips and teeth against his jaw and down his neck before pushing up entirely. Resting her hands against his chest, she continued to rock her hips, twisting and grinding until she found a combination that felt especially good. Only then did she finally begin to move faster, and both their moans became louder as she rushed to replicate the deliciously sweet impact of him inside her.

Her second orgasm of the night was well worth the wait. It built and it built, Annabeth inching closer to that release until she found herself right at the edge, and then she stayed there on the precipice just a little longer, enjoying the way dragging it out made her mind hazy and her whole body burn from the inside out. Fingers curling into fists where she braced herself against his chest, she let herself fall into it with a couple final thrusts, a cry getting caught in her throat.

There was no time to recover when she stilled. Percy moved instantly, rolling them onto their sides. He hooked one of her legs around his hip, his hand sliding down her thigh and over the silk of her stockings. While Percy’s lips found her neck, Annabeth reached between them to guide him back inside her. She wrapped herself around him, fingers sliding into his hair, the other arm thrown across his shoulders, and let him take command.

Relaxing into the position allowed her to enjoy every single touch, between the heat of his lips on her neck and trailing down to the swell of her breasts, all the way to his fingers digging into her thigh for leverage as his thrusts became rougher and more erratic. His grunts were muffled against her skin along with hot puffs of breath. She could tell he wanted it, to let go and take his own release, and as he fought to hold on, his teeth bit into her hard, each bite followed by soothing licks of his tongue and brushes of lips. Annabeth had a feeling most of those sharp stings would be marks left behind in the morning.

Annabeth’s third orgasm snuck up on her, approaching much more quickly in the wake of the first two. It was the result of an especially jarring thrust, fingernails imprinting on her thigh, a light brush of lips, and a whispered, “I love you,” on her skin. Her entire body tightened its grip on him, toes curling, fingers tugging at Percy’s hair, and this time her cries didn’t get caught in her throat – she let them out into the world, filling the room shamelessly and mingling with the deep, throaty groans Percy echoed her with as he finally followed her over that edge.

They fell still together, their intense holds on each other relaxing into a gentle melting of bodies. Percy rested his forehead against Annabeth’s, and the hand that had been so rough earlier caressed up and down her thigh. A smile pulled at her lips as she lay there with him, nowhere to be but together, at least for the next few hours.

“I love you,” she whispered into the silence between them, tilting her head to catch his lips.

“I love you,” he said in reply, as if he hadn’t said those words a few minutes before. Neither of them ever seemed to get tired of saying or hearing that particular confession. “Happy birthday, Beth.”

Not once in her life had Annabeth enjoyed hearing the words happy birthday quite so much, but she hoped Percy kept saying them for the rest of the night. Hearing them from Piper had always given her a very unique feeling of warmth and contentment, of course, even when they were younger and only ever said it over the phone. Percy gave them a new life, though, made her hopeful for the birthdays to come, when she would be able to hear him say them a thousand thousand times more.

“You never finished your song,” Annabeth reminded him, a smile spreading across her face. 

Percy hummed, a quiet and throaty laugh from deep in his throat, and he brushed a kiss against her forehead. “Well, I’ll have to change that. Give me just a minute.”

When Percy pulled away, Annabeth rolled onto her back and moved to sit up against the headboard, body warm and still buzzing with the remnants of pleasure. She watched him walk to the bathroom, appreciating the view of his backside just as much as the front. Being there with him still felt a little surreal, like a dream. If it was a dream, she hoped she never woke up from it.

“I like your ass,” she told him when he reappeared from disposing of his condom and getting cleaned up.

“Is that so?” he replied, crossing to the foot of the bed and grabbing his underwear from where she had tossed them, a bashful grin on his lips. “It just so happens that I’m a fan of yours, too.”

Glancing down at her chest, noting the red patches he’d spotted her with, Annabeth returned her gaze to Percy, eyes narrowed skeptically. “I think you’re a fan of a very different part of me.”

“I’m a fan of every part of you,” he corrected, underwear pulled on, and climbed back into bed. As if to prove the point, he stopped to press his lips to the strip of exposed skin on her thigh, where her garter belt clipped to her stockings, then to her stomach, then one of the red spots on her chest, and finally her lips. “Are you ready for cake?”

“It’s actually been years since I had birthday cake,” she confessed, but nodded.

He kissed her one more time, then turned toward the nightstand where he’d left his small bakery box. While he opened the box and began preparing the contents, Percy’s back remained turned to her. “Piper never got you one?”

“I didn’t want her to,” Annabeth said, voice small, with a hint of shame over the fact. Every year since they’d moved to New York, Piper had asked for permission, and every year Annabeth had said no. The more attention that was brought to the day, the more fuss was made over Annabeth on it, the more uncomfortable she had always become. Cake had been too much for her to handle.

“Should I not have?” Percy asked, turning to look at her with a concerned frown on his face.

Annabeth couldn’t help laughing, a warmth spreading in her chest, and she reached out to rub his shoulder just because the urge to touch him was already so strong again. “That depends – what kind of cake did you get?”

“Chocolate,” he answered instantly. “Strawberry jam filling, blue buttercream frosting.”

“ _Blue_ buttercream frosting,” she repeated, a smile so wide it threatened to make her cheeks ache spreading across her face. “Are you sure you know it’s my birthday and not yours?”

Though he was turned away again, Annabeth could see Percy’s shoulder shaking in a silent laugh. “You’re stuck with blue birthday cake from now on, seventy-seven more of them.”

“ _Seventy-seven_ ,” she found herself repeating him again. “You’re planning on us living to one hundred?”

“At least,” he confirmed, still fiddling with the cake. She was becoming a little concerned about how long it was taking him. “I want to live to meet our great-grandkids.”

Her hand on his shoulder stilled, her heart suddenly racing again. This time when she repeated his words, Annabeth’s voice was quiet, a little breathless. “Our great-grandkids?”

They hadn’t talked about the prospect of having kids. Annabeth knew Percy well enough to be certain he wanted a family someday, and figured that had always been the case. For her, children had always been an abstract concept, something she’d assumed she would do one day just because it was expected. In the last few months, though, the abstract concept had slowly morphed into a more concrete vision of the future – a future quite a ways off, but still very real in her mind, nonetheless. Adding in how much she loved Estelle, even after witnessing several meltdowns and handling one first hand, Annabeth knew now kids were something she actively wanted. She wanted a future with Percy, a life with him, children, and grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and seventy-seven more blue birthday cakes.

Next year, back at home, she might even want a proper birthday party, at least a small one, but that was something they could discuss later.

“I didn’t mean to make it weird,” Percy said, misunderstanding her tone and stillness, and he turned again to face her, still without the cake in hand. “I know we haven’t– You can forget I said it. Now’s not the time. We can just– After Rome or something, we can–”

“Percy,” Annabeth finally interrupted, her smile quickly returning, even more painfully wide, and she leaned in to press a kiss to his shoulder, “I want to live to meet our great-grandkids, too.”

The sigh of relief he breathed was adorably heavy, like a massive weight had just been lifted from his shoulders. “Okay, close your eyes.”

For a few seconds, Annabeth pretended to be unsure of whether this was a good idea, but then she closed her eyes and folded her hands into her lap to wait for whatever it was Percy had cooked up. She felt him shuffle around on the bed, and then he started up on a fresh round of _Happy Birthday_ in his very charming, and extremely off-key, singing voice. Annabeth opened her eyes to a very small, round, blue frosted birthday cake, with two lit candles on the top in the shapes of the number twenty-three and an array of colorful balloon toppers behind them.

“Make a wish,” Percy directed, when he’d finished his song, the cake held up between them.

Plenty of times over the years Annabeth had blown out candles at her showy, impersonal birthday parties. People had always said those same words to her, _make a wish_. When she was little, she would make them, wish for the fantastical things only kids can dream up, but as she grew older, the wishing had stopped. Wishes had started to feel like a waste of time, because the things she truly wanted never came true. Annabeth couldn’t even remember the last time she’d made a birthday wish – sometime in middle school, probably, maybe the summer before high school.

Sitting there, though, she couldn’t think of anything, not because her faith in wishes was still so destroyed, but because she felt like she already had everything she could want or need. That day had proven as much. She never would have even known to wish for all the ways she’d been blessed just in the last six months.

Instead of making a wish, Annabeth closed her eyes and said a silent prayer of thanks – to the universe, to whatever gods might be out there, whoever – for the way her twenty-second year of life had turned out. Then, and maybe it was a wish, but it felt more like a resolution, she swore the next year would be even better, that she would not forget this feeling as she navigated twenty-three. By the time she reached twenty-four, her life would be even better, both in the ways she could foresee and the many she had no doubt she couldn’t. When Annabeth was satisfied with those thoughts, she opened her eyes and blew out her candles, wearing the smile that seemed to have become her new norm.

Two seconds later, Percy took her by surprise with a swipe of frosting across her face. They nearly ruined the whole of her birthday cake’s pristine frosted surface in the ensuing frosting battle, faces and fingers soon covered in blue buttercream. By the end of it, they hadn’t even had a bite of actual cake, Annabeth back in Percy’s lap, straddling him, and their laughter and shouting silenced in a sugary, messy make out session. A make out session that ended in Percy carrying her away to the shower. A shower that ended in orgasms number four and five of the night.

When they made it back to bed, Annabeth grabbed one of the plastic forks in the bakery box her cake had come in and decided to finally dig in while she and Percy curled up together. He had to pass on indulging, dedicated to his diet, but stole plenty of lingering kisses while she ate for a little taste. Even with the impending deadline of his curfew inevitably pulling them apart, Annabeth really had no idea how Percy could have thought this night together would be anything like her experiences with Luke. Not being together all the way to morning didn’t change how full of love and joy their hours together had been, nor did she doubt for a single minute he would stay if he could.

“How have things been with Poe?” Annabeth asked, her cake finally set aside, fingers toying with his hair as she simply relaxed, wrapped around him.

“Fine, I guess,” Percy answered, shrugging noncommittally.

Talking about Poe over the phone had been next to impossible, if only because there was always a risk someone might overhear and start asking questions. Annabeth hoped Percy would tell her if anything especially bad happened, regardless, but given this time alone, in private, she wanted to take the opportunity to ask. Seeing Poe daily, interacting with him, knowing just about everyone else around them idolized and respected the man, couldn’t have been easy.

That non-answer only half comforted her, and she didn’t want to be too pushy during their short time together, but she also didn’t think she could wait another week and a half to ask him about this. “He’s not getting in the way of you enjoying yourself, though, right?”

“It’s a training camp, not a party,” he replied, the tiniest teasing smile on his lips. Annabeth tugged a lock of his hair lightly in retaliation for that smart remark and Percy laughed. “I’m actually having a lot of fun. There are some really great people on the team, and I’ve learned a lot working with them the last couple weeks. I do miss bacon, however. I’d kill just for Grover’s tofu bacon at this point.”

“When we get home I’ll take you for as much of Grover’s tofu bacon as you can eat,” Annabeth promised, glad to hear, at the very least, that Percy’s Olympic experience had not been ruined. Percy smiled, but he didn’t immediately reply, as if there was something else on his mind and he wasn’t sure whether he should say it. After waiting close to a minute, Annabeth whispered, “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

Percy’s eyes met hers, a hint of fear in those bright green irises, and then he ducked his head, hiding his face against Annabeth’s shoulder. “I think I want to keep swimming after this, like maybe try to make a career of it.”

“Why were you so worried about telling me that?” she asked, breathing a half sigh of relief, half laugh at the confession and wrapping her arms snugly around him.

Again, he didn’t answer right away, nuzzling into her neck instead – Annabeth wasn’t sure how she was going to let him walk out in a little over an hour. “There’s no guarantee I’m going to make any money,” he finally said, voice muffled. “There are stipends from the Olympic Committee I can probably qualify for, but most of that is going to be eaten up in club and coaching fees, not to mention travel expenses to compete. Just because I got that advertisement deal this year, doesn’t mean I’ll ever get another one. And, yeah, there are prizes for the Olympics and some of the other big competitions, too, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s not a huge amount. I’ll be one of the lucky ones if I can break even.”

“We’ll figure it out,” she told him, not a hint of doubt or hesitation in her heart. “If this is what you want, we’ll figure it out and make it work. We’ve got roofs over our heads. I won’t be making a ton of money to start once I find a job, but it’ll be something. And, honestly, after the Olympics, people are going to be lining up to put your face on billboards, because you’re going to kick ass over there and because you have the best face I have ever seen in my entire life. Seriously, not putting your face on billboards would be such a waste.”

“Hey, Beth?” he said, still not lifting his head, lips and breath tickling her skin. When she grunted in acknowledgment, she could feel a smile begin to spread across his face. “Are you sure it’s not my ass they should be putting on billboards?”

“I’m never complimenting you ever again,” she lied, only holding him closer. “But, yes, they should definitely put your ass on billboards, too. Bare, if you ask me.”

Pressing a few deliberate kisses to her neck, Percy straightened up to look at her. “I don’t want you to think you have to support me financially.”

“If the roles were reversed, and it was you who was going to have a steady stream of income and me who was taking a risk to chase my dreams, would you even think twice about supporting me in every possible way?” she argued, eyebrows raised in a slight challenge.

“No,” he answered, an answer they’d both already known full well.

“So,” Annabeth said, arms secure around his neck, “you’ll keep swimming, and I’ll be right here in your corner to make sure you have everything you need, whether that’s just believing in you, or more tangible things. It’ll be a little scary, and we’re going to face a lot of unknowns and uncertainty, but we’ll face it all together.”

Percy sat, simply looking at her, and the intensity of his gaze was enough to make Annabeth’s pulse quicken. That look in his eyes was something she recognized, but couldn’t quite place, as if she hadn’t seen it in a while. She was about to ask him what he was thinking this time when his expression softened. “I love you.”

“And I love you,” she told him.

Done talking, Percy leaned in and kissed her. They didn’t have a lot of time left, but they made the most of it, and Percy stayed just long enough for Annabeth to fall asleep after. Her last memories of her twenty-third birthday were his arms around her, the steady beating of his heart with her ear against his chest, and an overflowing sense of contentment.

If this was what she could look forward to for the next seventy-seven years, Annabeth might just start getting excited about her birthdays.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! i'm way behind on replying to your comments because of some personal stuff going on, but getting this chapter out on time was most important to me. i've read all of them and will be going back to catch up later this week, tho. they've been fun to read, esp with the cliffhangers. huhu. 💕
> 
> see you all friday!


	118. Chapter 118

Waiting had never been Piper’s strong suit. In fact, waiting had always been one of her greatest weaknesses. This waiting felt like a test, though. If she couldn’t survive it, if she couldn’t handle this simple hurdle in the way of what she wanted, she couldn’t survive or handle anything. So, she would wait, no matter how long it took, even if she was there in the lobby of Grace Tower until sunrise.

The couch she sat on facing the front doors of the lobby, legs crossed and her purse in her lap, was at least comfortable. Piper thought about pulling out her phone and trying to text someone, or playing a game as a distraction, but she didn’t want to distract herself. She wanted to be focused, prepared for the moment someone she recognized walked through the front door of the building. Her mind played through possible scenarios, what she would do depending on which of Jason’s family members came home first. What Piper would do if the first one home was Jason himself, she had no idea, but she wanted to keep it that way. If she thought about what to say to him too much, she would psych herself out. That scenario, she would play by ear.

A large clock hung over Grace Tower lobby’s front doors. Piper spent far too much time watching the seconds literally tick by. It had been seventeen minutes after ten when she’d arrived. Every time she saw that minute hand pass another marker, she felt like she’d won another battle – _twenty minutes, twenty-five, thirty_ , on and on, until the hour hand finally finished its journey from ten to eleven and the process started all over again.

Butch remained at the front desk, glancing over at her occasionally, but not saying anything. Of the many security personnel at Grace Tower who Piper had interacted with over her months dating Jason, he had certainly been her favorite. Bald and bulky, he appeared much more gruff than he was in reality. She wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of a tackle from him, but he had a nice smile and a friendly demeanor. As Piper’s second hour of waiting dragged on, she considered going over to ask how he had been since she’d last seen him, but that would only be a different kind of distraction.

Piper’s eyes always returned to the clock, watching each hand crawl past its milestones – the hour hand crossing from eleven to twelve, the minute hand slowly starting its journey back around the face, all the way to _fifty-five_ for a third time that evening – until Piper finally heard the automatic doors open at four minutes to one in the morning. She glanced quickly at the woman who’d walked in, but it wasn’t Reyna or Thalia and Piper just sighed, finding another corner of the lobby to stare into mindlessly. 

Looking away so quickly had been a mistake, because a second later Butch cleared his throat and called, out, “Excuse me, Mrs. Grace?” Both Piper’s heart and time itself stopped as she jerked her eyes back down to the woman who’d just walked in. 

_Beryl Grace._

Piper had only ever seen Beryl in photos, but she was easy enough to recognize. Seeing her there, in New York, was jarring, but Piper should have realized she would have come back. Filming on _Fury and Family_ had started a little over a week before, and the first installment of the series had Beryl’s character living in the city. Not once had Piper considered that meant Beryl being back in New York on location, though.

Long, blonde hair was draped over one of the Beryl’s shoulders, falling in carefully, professionally sculpted waves. Her face was a collection of sharp, startling, stunning angles. Despite the years Piper knew Beryl had spent drinking heavily, the woman appeared younger than forty-nine, most likely thanks to regular cosmetic procedures, but also probably due to the miracle of good genetics. Everything she wore, from head to toe, was designer, probably worth close to ten thousand dollars in total, considering Piper was pretty sure that _Chanel_ bag in her hand had been limited edition, and the diamonds on her earrings were almost comically large. 

The pinch of Beryl’s lips and the narrowing of her eyes said she did not appreciate being spoken to, but she turned to look at Butch just the same. When she didn’t say anything, just raised her eyebrows and tilted her head impatiently, he glanced awkwardly to Piper, held a hand out to signal toward the waiting area, and then swallowed hard. “There’s a visitor waiting to speak with someone in the family.”

This was not a situation Piper had prepared herself for and when her heart kick started again, she shot to her feet, almost dropping her purse in the process and having to fumble to keep hold of it. “Sorry to bother you so late, Mrs. Grace. I’m–”

“I know who you are,” Beryl interrupted, her gaze falling on Piper as she crossed the lobby, heels clicking against the floor and echoing through the space. Several seconds passed in which Beryl appraised Piper’s appearance – hair a mess, thin layer of makeup cracking under the weight of sweating earlier, clothes relatively casual and certainly not on the level of Beryl’s ensemble – and then huffed. “I honestly would have expected Tristan McLean’s daughter to be more impressive. What are you doing here?”

It was not the first time in Piper’s life someone had told her they expected more because of her father, and she doubted it would be the last, so she shrugged the comment off and powered through. “I came to speak with Jason.”

“That won’t be happening,” Beryl replied, barking an incredulous laugh.

“I’m not here to ask your permission,” Piper told her, blinking in shock at the idea Beryl might think she had any say in the matter.

“Jason is my son,” Beryl said, her chin rising in smug pride as she spoke the words. Already tall, and made taller by her stilettos, that tilt of Beryl’s chin further exaggerated the way she’d been looking down her nose at Piper from the moment Butch had announced someone was waiting in the lobby. “He may have decided to maintain his acquaintance with your _friends_ , but _you_ are not welcome here. You’ll need to leave.”

For most of her life, Piper McLean had been the type to bristle in the face of authority figures trying to control her, but something in her had broken under the pressure Jove Grace had applied back in May. In the month and weeks since, almost all she’d done was curl in on herself, scared and defensive. Even just a week ago, Piper might have shrunk away from the haughty glare and sharp words Beryl presented that evening. The broken piece of her still screamed to do that very thing, to tuck tail and rush back home, but Piper was done running.

“We’ve never met,” Piper started, taking a step forward and standing as straight as she could manage to make up for their difference in heights, “and I may _look_ unimpressive to you, but I am very much my father’s daughter, and you don’t intimidate me. I’m here to see Jason. I’ll leave if, and when, _he_ asks me to, but not a minute before.”

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done to him?” Beryl asked, head tilting to one side, her tone mocking and condescending. Piper had issued a challenge and Beryl intended to meet it. “My son was a good, obedient boy. Not once did I ever have to worry about him, because he always made wise, respectable decisions. Then you walk into his life, acting like you’re something special, like you’re worthy of even a few seconds of his time. You break his heart and get to walk away, leave the mess for someone else to clean up.

“Now I don’t even know who my baby boy is,” she continued, nose wrinkled in a sneer. “He’s out this very moment with his little crew of bottom feeders, as he has been every night since I got back to the city, drinking away a small fortune and doing God knows what else – God knows _who_ else – making himself look like a complete and utter fool. So, you will not be seeing my son tonight, or any other night, so long as I’m here to stand between you.”

Piper gaped at Beryl, an avalanche of thoughts triggered and tumbling over each other through her mind. 

First and foremost, at the front of that deluge, was the fact that Beryl had not once said Jason’s name in that entire little speech. _My son. My baby boy_. Beryl claimed him, as if Jason was someone who belonged to her and owed her a certain kind of behavior, rather than being his own person. Jason was property to these people, little more than a trophy for them to hold up and show to the world as a symbol of how accomplished they were for raising him. Jove intended to use Jason to rehabilitate the family image for that very reason.

As her thoughts continued to snowball, Piper registered a second realization – Beryl acted like she knew Jason at all, when Piper knew full well she had barely seen him in years. Beryl had left for Hollywood when Jason was in high school and never looked back. There was no way she knew what he liked, that he preferred dark chocolate, took his coffee with cream and no sugar, used cinnamon toothpaste, texted with perfect grammar and punctuation, never missed a Knicks’ game, and knew just about every line to the movie _Space Jam_. Beryl didn’t know the places Jason _always_ left his glasses and _always_ forgot about, even though he’d left them there a million times before. She didn’t know that he would remind everyone to wear a jacket when it was cold and then forget one himself, or that he memorized his friends’ orders at all their favorite places to surprise them later, or that he always volunteered to be the one to run to the store if they needed something.

The tail end of that avalanche hit Piper worst of all, knocking the air out of her seconds after Beryl had first spoken the words. Jason was out there, at that very moment, acting very much unlike himself. She remembered seeing him at Drew’s party, the center of attention, wildly launching himself into a crowded pool, chugging beer while the people around him cheered. That had been strange behavior for Jason, to say the least, but Piper had assumed he was just out blowing off some steam and trying to find himself in the wake of having his heart broken. _Every night_ , though, that wasn’t just blowing off steam. It was so reckless and self-destructive, Piper would have expected it of herself, not Jason.

No one had mentioned Jason acting strange to Piper, not since just after the breakup when they’d been worried about Jason closing himself off. Piper didn’t expect Annabeth or Percy to fill her in on all of Jason’s feelings and behaviors, but if something had been wrong, really wrong, she would have heard about it. They would have expressed concerns, not gone out for brunches and lunches, and to play basketball with him. If Jason was really _that_ far gone, Piper would have even expected some kind of intervention from Thalia or Reyna, either locking Jason up until he got his shit together or dragging Piper into it to force a conversation and proper closure. There was no way the people who really loved him would sit back and watch Jason do harm to himself without even trying to stop him.

It didn’t add up, but Beryl had no reason to outright lie.

The demand for answers died on Piper’s tongue as the lobby’s doors opened again. This time, at almost one-thirty in the morning, it was Jason stumbling in. His back was turned to the lobby as he shouted to a small crowd still on the street, their resounding cheers resulting in him taking a dramatic and wobbly bow. He held a half-empty bottle of vodka in one of his hands, which he put to his lips and tipped back when the doors finally shut. Jason turned to start toward the elevators and managed two wobbly steps before he noticed Piper and Beryl and stopped in his tracks.

“See,” Beryl said, a smug smile on her lips, as if being right about this actually pleased her, and she waved her arm in Jason’s direction. “Now, either you’ll leave or I’ll have security drag you out. It doesn’t really matter to me which, but I can’t imagine you’d want to cause a scene.”

Despite those threats, Piper’s eyes had locked on Jason, and she tried to process all this nonsensical, jumbled, inconsistent information. Jason’s hair was a mess, sticking up in all different directions. He wore jeans and a navy blue v-neck that was covered in fresh drink spills and stains Piper presumed were from earlier in the night. The tattoo on his arm had continued to grow since last Piper had seen him, a cloud of swirling lines reaching all the way to the eagle he’d first had inked months before, along with another black silhouette she wasn’t close enough to see properly. On its face, his appearance did confirm what Beryl had said earlier, but that just emphasized the question of why no one else, no one who really gave a shit about him, seemed to care.

“What are you doing here?” Jason asked before Piper could find a single word to speak, his eyes flashing quickly between her and Beryl.

“She’s leaving,” Beryl replied, not taking her eyes off Piper.

“I came to see you,” Piper answered, still refusing to let Beryl shake her, no matter how loudly the broken pieces inside her screamed to get out of there. Now, more than ever, Piper was sure about what she’d come to do. “We need to talk.”

Jason approached slowly, no longer tripping over his own feet, a storm raging in his eyes. “Mom, will you give–”

“No, Jason,” Beryl interrupted again, finally turning to look at him and wrinkling her nose. Her tone and scowl made Jason flinch, only just barely noticeable, but apparent enough to make Piper’s chest ache. “Go upstairs. You reek of alcohol and you look like a buffoon. It’s embarrassing. We don’t need anyone else seeing you like this.”

Piper’s attention snapped back to Beryl, rage beginning to boil in the pit of her stomach, intensifying that ache in her chest. Maybe Piper shouldn’t be there, and maybe her presence really would only hurt Jason further, but that woman had taken it a step too far. “Don’t you _dare_ speak to him that way.”

“Excuse me?” Beryl said, scoffing. “I am his mother. _You_ will not speak to _me_ that way.”

Even just the notion that Beryl deserved any semblance of respect was laughable, and so Piper laughed. Her laughter was bitter, a month and a half’s worth of anger, guilt, and heartache turned to sound, because Piper finally felt free of it. The cowardly, broken voice in the back of her mind grew quieter by the second now, and she would never let it gain a hold on her again. Standing up to Beryl was not standing up to Jove, not by a long shot, and even this much might be too little too late, but she would do it all the same, and she would be ready when the day came to face her real demons.

“I don’t give a fuck who you _think_ you are,” Piper replied through her laughter, meeting Beryl’s eyes without faltering. “I was with Jason for close to six months. He met my parents in that time, and they live on the other side of the country. Hell, I even met _Jove_ , although I sincerely wish I hadn’t. So, who are you really? And what right does a technicality, an empty title you get to claim by default, give you to talk to the best man I’ve ever known like he’s a child? 

“I told you once already – I’ll leave when he tells me to,” she reminded Beryl, pretending her heart wasn’t racing in fear and doing her best to stand tall, “and if you throw me out of the building, I’ll just wait out on the street for him instead. Let Jason decide what’s best for him himself, because he is perfectly capable of making that judgment on his own.”

For a split second, Piper doubted herself. That had been quite a presumptuous little speech, and hypocritical, considering she was speaking for Jason while pointing out he was equipped to speak for himself. The fury behind Beryl’s eyes only served to strengthen the volume of that craven little voice in Piper’s mind, but she would not back down, and she would not take back anything she’d said. Those were words she meant, and she would not stand idly by watching these people walk all over Jason with the hollow excuse of biological connection, not anymore.

When Piper looked to Jason, though, all her doubts melted away. Something she said must have been right, because Jason stared back at her like she was the most wonderful thing in the world – lips slightly parted and pulling into the faintest hint of a smile, eyes wide and shining. Piper felt entirely unworthy of the love that still emanated from him, but it was so very mutual that the guilt she should have felt couldn’t touch her.

Piper wasn’t sure which of them took the first step. All she knew was that suddenly they were both moving, the space that had been separating them – physically, in that room, and emotionally for much longer than just one evening – closed in a matter of seconds. Three weeks had passed since the last time Piper set eyes on Jason, almost two full months since she broke both their hearts. His pull maintained so much power over her that she was beginning to think it could have been three years or two decades and she would have been just as incapable of resisting the urge to cross that lobby and meet him as she was in that moment. 

Beryl called out to stop Jason, even reached for him as he passed, but he shrugged her off and kept moving. In the next second his lips found Piper’s and it was all over, no going back. 

Kissing Jason was like coming home after a long, hard day. He had been as good as home for a long time, and she couldn’t help the hint of relief that came with knowing that had not changed. If anything, the time apart had only made her more confident of her own feelings. His touch sparked a thousand memories Piper had buried in the depths of her heart without even realizing it. His lips jolted back to life a part of her Piper had never even realized had gone dormant. She had no idea how she’d managed to go even a day without this, let alone months.

In one hand he still held that bottle of vodka, so he looped that arm around her waist and used it to hold her to him, but the other rested at the nape of her neck, tilting her head gently upward. Piper pushed up on her toes, one arm thrown around his neck and the other hand slipping straight into his hair. It was completely natural, their bodies curling into each other on instinct.

Jason kissed her with the fervor of a man who’d just stumbled into a desert oasis, desperate for a life saving drink of water. That comparison was easy for Piper to make, because she felt the same, and she kissed him back with equal zeal. None of the reminiscing or fantasizing she had done over the last seven weeks compared to the reality of his lips moving against hers, the gentle brush of his tongue, or the sturdiness of his body, there and real and _still hers_. 

He did reek of alcohol, the unpleasant stench stinging her nose, but his mouth tasted only faintly of beer and nothing else, as if it had been several hours since his last drink. It was another piece of an increasingly confusing puzzle, but Piper didn’t care about solving it at the moment. All she cared about was staying in that moment forever, with his lips on hers and his arms around her, where they belonged.

They couldn’t stay in it forever, however. Much too soon, Jason broke away. He straightened up, out of reach of her lips, but his eyes didn’t leave Piper’s face, scanning her with the same intensity he had kissed her. She struggled to catch her breath as her heart continued to race, searching his face in return for some kind of understanding – understanding, and just to memorize him again, the exact shade of his eyes and the slope of his brow, the scar on the corner of his mouth and the strong cut of his jaw.

“We need to talk,” she finally forced herself to say, breathing the words just loud enough for him to hear.

“Not tonight,” he replied, matching her volume perfectly. “Not here.”

“I’m scared if it’s not tonight, I’ll never find the courage again,” she confessed, because there was no reason to keep mincing her words. Piper’s heart was battered and bruised and, even though it was her own fault she found herself in this situation, she could not trust it to gather the strength it needed again if she left without telling Jason the truth, all of it.

Pain flashed across Jason’s face, and in turn her own chest constricted. She had hurt him too much already to do it again. Seconds dragged by as he thought about what he wanted to say, his eyes never still and his tongue wetting his lips. That was an expression Piper would recognize no matter how much time passed – the manifestation of Jason’s endless internal struggle to find only the most worthy words to express himself with. Because he hadn’t pulled away from her, and because a small part of her feared she might never get the chance again, Piper slipped her hand to his cheek and bit back tears when he instinctively leaned into her touch.

From behind Jason, Beryl cleared her throat, but neither of them paid her any notice. She could rot for all Piper cared.

“What happened in May, and at Drew’s party a few weeks ago, happened on your terms,” Jason finally replied. That reminder stung, an ugly truth Piper hated herself for, but she nodded. “I need this conversation to be on mine. You didn’t trust me before. Trust me now.”

“It wasn’t that–”

It was, though, and Piper couldn’t bring herself to lie to him by finishing the sentence. She _hadn’t_ trusted him. Fear of him not choosing her when faced with his options had crippled her judgment. Piper had admitted as much to Annabeth, come to terms with the fact herself, she just hadn’t considered Jason might have put the truth together himself. All she had done was run, hide, and try to protect herself, and still he stood there, loving her, forgiving her, and asking only this small thing from her.

“Okay,” Piper agreed, meeting his eye. She did not trust herself to be strong or have courage beyond that night, but she would trust him. Her judgment had failed them both, so she would put her faith in his instead.

“Okay,” Jason echoed her, swallowing hard.

“I love you,” she added in a whisper, because, if nothing else, she needed him to know that much tonight.

He let out a quiet, shuddering sigh and smiled, his obvious relief at hearing those words putting her own heart at ease as well, and then he reinforced that feeling by echoing her yet again. “I love you.”

There were so many things she wanted to ask him, but Piper knew this momentary reverie was quickly fading. Her questions would have to wait, at least another week and a half, until they were in Rome and a half a world away from his father. One thing weighed on her too heavily to wait that long, though, and she clung a little tighter to Jason in hopes of keeping him there just long enough to clear the air in this small way. “You never replied to the text I sent you on Tuesday.”

“I didn’t,” he confirmed, nodding slowly. “Knowing that you didn’t hate me after what I said at Drew’s party meant a lot to me, but, to be honest, I’m not ready to be your friend, Pipes.”

Fuck time, and everything that had become between them, and their judgmental audience still tapping a heel clad foot in the background. Piper pushed up on her toes again, used every ounce of her strength to pull Jason back down to meet her, and she kissed him a second time. His arm tightened around her waist as he returned that kiss, hurried and hard as they both tried to get their fill in a matter of a few stolen seconds. The effort was futile, because neither of them would ever really be satisfied, but damn did Piper try.

This time she broke away first. Piper forced herself to break away, because of all the ways she could not trust herself, not trusting herself to walk away if that kiss lasted even a second longer was the greatest. After taking a full step back, she reached for the bottle of vodka in Jason’s hand. He tried to stop her, but she needed a drink more than she had probably ever needed a drink in her life. In a flash she put the bottle to her lips and tilted it up to let the liquid inside burn down her throat.

Except, no burn came. The bottle was filled with water, and the unexpectedness of it made her snap the bottle away and wrinkle her nose at it. She looked at Jason, mouth hung agape, in search of an explanation, but all he did was shake his head minimally, a silent plea for her not to say anything about it. 

All those puzzle pieces fell into place at once – Jason wasn’t drunk, he was faking, and the reason none of the people who actually cared about him were concerned, was because they were all in on the ruse. Piper still didn’t understand exactly why, but she knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this was not Jason self-destructing after having his heart broken. This was Jason at war, and completely in control.

“Try not to finish the rest of that tonight,” Piper said, loud enough for Beryl to hear, and she pushed the bottle back into Jason’s hand, trying painfully hard to fight the grin her lips wanted to pull into. “See you next Monday.”

“See you next Monday, Pipes,” Jason replied, resuming his drunken act by carefully slurring his words, and he gave her a two fingered salute. Those words made it even harder for her not to smile, a subtle reminder of the promise he’d made nearly a month before, one she’d feared might have lost its meaning since.

Before Piper got four steps, Beryl moved into her path, seething, her mouth twitching. “I will be informing security that you are not allowed in this building again.”

“You do that,” Piper said, with a scrunched nose and an exaggerated frown, the words dripping with heavy handed sarcasm. Since Beryl remained in her way and Piper was feeling especially petty, a second later she pointed to the corner of her own eye and added, in a mockingly concerned tone, “You might also want to make an appointment with your plastic surgeon. The crow’s feet are starting to show.”

The pure rage that flashed across Beryl’s face was well worth Piper having to lower herself to that kind of superficial attack, and she couldn’t help giving a final, taunting smile to Beryl before she shouldered past to leave that damned tower’s lobby. Piper wasn’t looking forward to another week and a half of waiting, but she decided to ride the high of her small victory instead of lingering on that thought, and at least now she knew what she was waiting for.


	119. Chapter 119

Sunday morning, Annabeth woke up alone, but she was so undeniably happy, she didn’t mind in the slightest.

Since Jason had so kindly footed the bill for her room and her flight out wasn’t until that evening, she opted for a lazy morning and a late check out. After rolling out of bed and doing her initial morning routine, Annabeth went down to the hotel gym to run on a treadmill. Skipping one day of her workout was enough. If she missed two, she’d regret it. When she returned to her room, feeling energized and refreshed from that mild workout, she found her first texts of the day awaiting her.

**PERCY (08:32AM)**  
suggestion  
what if u just dont go back to nyc  
and we do that every night

**ANNABETH (09:06AM)**  
i’m not sure you should be expelling that much energy every night  
it can’t be good for you

**PERCY (09:09AM)**  
no its def good for me  
feel better than i have since i got here

**ANNABETH (09:10AM)**  
mhmm  
i’m just so sure  
taking a shower now! love you

**PERCY (09:11AM)**  
thats a very cruel image to give me before noon beth  
love you too

The smile that had lived on her lips all morning bloomed wider than ever as Annabeth set her phone aside and went in to take that quick shower. Fifteen minutes later, she was out of the shower, had ordered breakfast, and curled up in bed to check her texts while waiting for room service. Most of her texts looked like late birthday greetings from their previews, so when Annabeth saw Piper’s name among the new notifications, she opened that window first.

**PIPER (09:20AM)**  
so a thing kinda happened last night

Annabeth wasn’t sure what to make of that message. So often lately her gut instinct was to _worry_ – and, okay, maybe that wasn’t really just _lately_ , but recent events had left her especially cautious about such ominous messages. _A thing_ could mean Bob had peed on Annabeth’s bed, or it could mean Piper had accidentally gotten wrapped up in a bank heist and now had a million dollars in unmarked bills sitting around the apartment. Both seemed equally likely. They were living in strange times.

**ANNABETH (09:27AM)**  
should i be scared to ask?

**PIPER (09:29AM)**  
i went to see jason  
did you know his mom is back in town?

For several seconds, Annabeth stared at her phone, blinking to see if she had just imagined the words and they would change into whatever Piper had really said once she focused hard enough. After weeks of telling Piper to do that very thing, to go see Jason and talk to him directly, it simply did not seem possible that it could have happened. It did not seem possible that it would be brought up so casually, or that it might be glossed over by following it up with a question about Beryl, like the crazy and unexpected thing was Jason’s mom being back in New York City and not Piper finally going to see him. Since the words on Annabeth’s phone refused to turn into something that actually made sense, she hit the green call button and waited for Piper to pick up.

“Hey,” Piper said after picking up on the second ring. Her tone was tentative, cautious, as if she were bracing herself.

“You went to see Jason?” Annabeth asked instantly, no patience for niceties.

Piper hummed quietly in confirmation. “I know I should have done it a long time ago.”

That was something they agreed on, but Annabeth didn’t need to rub it in. “And you saw Beryl while you were there?”

“Yeah,” Piper confirmed with a heavy sigh. “She, uh, doesn’t like me much. Apparently I have that effect on parents. I take it you knew about her being back in New York?”

“I did,” Annabeth admitted, feeling a tinge of guilt for not having told Piper when she found out earlier that week. “Apparently she’s back in town to film that stupid show. She surprised Jason on his birthday or something and she’s staying with them now.”

Several seconds passed without Piper saying anything and Annabeth used that silence to begin processing the very many questions she wanted to ask, but before she could get any of them out, Piper spoke up again. “Has Jason been acting weird? Like, partying, or drinking too much, or whatever? Is anyone worried about him?”

“I don’t think anyone is _worried_ about him, per se,” Annabeth replied, cringing at her own poor attempt at tip toeing around the subject. The last thing she wanted to do was lie to her best friend directly, but she also knew Jason wanted his antics kept secret from anyone who hadn’t been involved in the planning process. He hadn’t even told Percy the truth behind his almost nightly outings, just said as much as it took to assure Percy there was nothing to be concerned over. “He’s been going out a lot recently, yeah. Last I talked to them, Thalia and Frank didn’t think it was an issue, though. We both know they would stop him if they thought anything was wrong.”

“That’s what I thought, too,” Piper said, still sounding contemplative, unconvinced by that reassurance. Annabeth knew Piper’s instincts were too good not to sense something more was happening. “Beryl is definitely worried about it, though, and she blames me. I’m no longer allowed on Grace Tower premises, in the name of Jason’s well being.”

Annabeth had to snort a laugh at that. There was a long list of people that Annabeth wished she could keep away from Jason for his well being, and Piper was not one of them. Quite the opposite – she often wanted to force them together, just for Jason’s sake. “Did you not actually get to see Jason, then?”

“Actually, he showed up right before Beryl had security drag me out,” Piper answered, voice becoming a little quieter, and Annabeth could picture her twirling her hair around her fingers, her eyes becoming unfocused. “It was… surreal. I almost don’t believe it happened.”

“So, the two of you finally talked?” Annabeth pressed, surprised by how nervous the prospect of that conversation made her, when it wasn’t even her conversation to have.

“No,” Piper said, and all the tension went out of Annabeth in a wave of exasperation that had her falling over and burying her face in the hotel bed pillows. “He, um– well, he kissed me, and it was pretty intense, but then I told him we should talk and he told me he wasn’t ready yet. He didn’t say it in so many words, but I think he was hinting that we should wait until we’re in Rome.”

“How are you feeling?” Annabeth asked, instead of focusing expending extra energy on how badly she wanted to wring the necks of both her friends. When she got back to New York she was going to kill Jason Grace, at the very least.

“A little disappointed,” Piper admitted, heaving a heavy sigh. “I mean, I know that just because I’m ready to talk doesn’t mean he has to be, and that it wasn’t fair of me to barge in there and expect things to go my way, but I still kind of hoped it would go… differently. And now all I can think about is kissing him, which I also know is stupid, because there are so many more important things to be worried about right now, but he’s just _such_ a good kisser, and it felt so good, and I kind of want to go over there right now and kiss him again. Probably more than kiss him, if I’m being honest.”

“We leave for Rome in a week,” Annabeth reminded Piper, just as a knock came at her hotel room door. She jumped to her feet and hurried to answer it. “You’ve made it this far. You can make it another eight days.”

“Yeah, but that’s just until we leave,” Piper complained, and a dull thump in the background made Annabeth think she’d thrown herself down onto either her own bed or the couch. Annabeth half listened to Piper continue while opening the door and accepting her meal, whispering thanks to the man who’d brought it up and retreating back to bed to start eating. “I doubt he’ll want to talk on the plane, and then everyone will be settling in, and we’re supposed to meet Percy’s ex or whatever our first night, so we probably won’t have a chance to talk until _at least_ Wednesday, so that’s a week and a half – and what if he changes his mind once he hears the truth about what happened? Then I’ll never kiss him again. Ever.”

“He’s not going to change his mind,” Annabeth assured Piper, not waiting to dig into her plate of scrambled eggs, bacon and hash browns.

Another silence fell between them. Annabeth wished they were together, just for the ability to reach out and take Piper’s hand, reassure her with that physical contact along with the words, and remind Piper that she was not, and never would be, alone. When Annabeth got home they would need to fulfill their birthday tradition, curl up on the couch together to watch Disney movies and just enjoy each other’s company. As happy as Annabeth had been to spend the night with Percy, the day hadn’t felt entirely complete without that mini movie marathon.

“You know what’s weird, though?” Piper finally asked, her tone a little less hopeless and more inquisitive. Annabeth, with a mouthful of eggs, simply grunted for Piper to continue. “There’s been no gossip or anything about Jason in the tabloids. I would think they’d be all over it after Harry, especially with how Beryl described what he’s been up to.”

Annabeth knew that, of course. They’d been tracking just about every news outlet religiously since Jason had started playing at being a bad boy, and yet not a single negative word about him had made it to press. Social media was a little different, but nothing there had been picked up or gained any traction outside of smaller gossip circles. All they’d managed to do was get individuals whispering about his behavior, and while that would hopefully turn some shareholders against him, it wasn’t as effective as a bunch of disparaging headlines would be.

Thinking about it now reminded Annabeth of the small epiphany she’d felt on the brink of the day before, in the back of Jason’s town car before she’d made it to the airport. She was missing something, a crucial piece in the puzzle of Jove Grace’s war on his own son’s happiness, and yet she could tell that piece was right there in front of her, ready to be snapped up and put into place if Annabeth could just _see it_. A small ache began to form behind Annabeth’s eye, the kind she used to get when she was struggling with an especially difficult math problem or trying to wade through a book she found painfully droll, and suddenly her appetite died.

“I think I need to go,” she told Piper, feeling a hint of guilt for cutting the conversation short.

“Are you okay?” Piper asked, concern flooding her voice.

“Yeah,” Annabeth answered, a half-truth. Her head hurt, yes, and she was very annoyed by this feeling of missing something, but there was nothing wrong with her, not really. “I’ll text you in a bit.”

“Sure,” Piper agreed, though she didn’t sound happy about it. “If you need anything, let me know.”

Once they’d said their goodbyes, Annabeth set her phone and breakfast tray aside so she could get dressed and pack up. When she returned to her phone, ready to try figuring out this stupid breakthrough her own mind was dangling in front of her, she discovered yet another loaded text awaiting her. With a sigh, she opened it up to reply before getting too distracted.

**JASON (10:06AM)**  
Has piper talked to you yet today?

**ANNABETH (10:34AM)**  
yeah. we just got off the phone  
how are you feeling?

**JASON (10:36AM)**  
Weird, mostly. I couldn’t really sleep last night.  
Is she okay?

**ANNABETH (10:37AM)**  
she’s a little worked up, too  
you should text or call her  
it would be good for both of you

So much for murdering him. Apparently Annabeth was back to gently nudging Jason (and probably Piper) to the most obvious conclusion in history – they needed to use their words like big kids.

**JASON (10:40AM)**  
I’ll think about it.

That made Annabeth want to scream into a pillow for a few hours, and also made the pain behind her eye worse, so she closed the text window without replying and opened up her phone’s web browser to start her sleuthing instead. Those two had gotten themselves this far on their own. They could figure out how to deal with their resulting maelstrom of feelings today, too.

Annabeth decided to start with looking into her own online footprint. It had been a long time since she last Googled herself, but she didn’t expect much to have changed. Most of the information about her floating around on the internet was in relation to her father – her name mentioned in Fredrick’s interviews, pictures of her with the family at his events, things along those lines. There was one article from her school paper about the protest she and Piper had staged over vegetarian options in their cafeteria that had been picked up by a few local outlets at the time. Those were all things Annabeth had known to expect. The only new additions were a couple pictures from Tristan’s wedding, some pictures of her with Percy from the week of Nationals, and a single interview in which he’d mentioned her by name as his girlfriend.

Instagram was the only social media Annabeth really used. Her account was public, but she rarely updated it, posted pictures of herself even less often, didn’t use her name anywhere on her profile, and only followed people she actually knew. All that, combined with the fact that a moderately successful author’s daughter was of little interest to the general public, meant Annabeth had remained under the radar.

She’d almost decided to move on when she did a double take over one of the pictures from the wedding. Tristan and Naomi had been very selective of what they released to the public from that day. Even Piper and Will were kept out of most of the official pictures. Annabeth only appeared in two that were released herself – a single posed photo with Piper and Tristan, and then a shot of her dancing with Percy in the background of a picture focused on one of Tristan’s movie star friends. When Annabeth clicked on an article by some entertainment magazine that had compiled all the pictures released, compelled by nothing more than a hunch, she made her first strange discovery. Jason’s face was nowhere to be seen, not even appearing randomly in the background like Percy.

After scanning the over one hundred images from that day for the third time, Annabeth switched to her texts and shot off a quick question to Piper.

**ANNABETH (11:16AM)**  
there were pictures of jason from your dad’s wedding, right?  
like in what he sent you that they didn’t release?

**PIPER (11:17AM)**  
tons of them  
why?

_Why_ was a good question, but Annabeth didn’t know how to explain it to Piper without feeling outright crazy yet.

**ANNABETH (11:19AM)**  
just thinking  
will explain later

With that curious discovery in mind, Annabeth dove back into her search, this time focusing on Piper. There was a lot more for Annabeth to dig through there. People cared significantly more about the kids of movie stars, though Tristan had done a fairly good job of keeping Piper out of the limelight when she was growing up. Most of the attention Piper had received had started after she turned eighteen, once she and Annabeth had moved to the city. Even that was still relatively limited. 

The only time there had been any real, regular coverage of Piper’s life by the media was when she’d dated some YouTuber during their freshman year of college. Paparazzi had snapped plenty of shots of the two of them out on dates or clubbing during that short lived relationship, but a lot of it had been purposefully staged. Part of the reason they’d broken up so quickly was because Piper had realized the guy was using her name for a little extra exposure. Piper had made herself a public Twitter account during that time as well, and it had attracted several thousand followers. While she still used it, Piper rarely updated it with anything more personal than tweeting about whatever show she was watching or the occasional selfie.

In the years that had followed, it hadn’t been uncommon for the odd collection of pictures of Piper to make the rounds on especially slow news days, but those times were few and far between. Tristan McLean’s daughter, even with all her partying and many fleeting relationships, was only of passing interest to anyone but her dad’s most die hard fans and Hollywood gossip junkies. On the few occasions she’d been seen with anyone even remotely noteworthy, it would blow over just as soon as soon as it became an issue.

Almost all media interest in Piper had died off in January, though. Aside from the pictures at Tristan’s wedding and one of her tweets about _Riverdale_ being quoted in a Buzzfeed article, Piper had fallen off the map completely at the exact moment she’d started dating Jason. After the break up, even though it had only barely been two months, the media had already renewed their interest, with a few pap shots of Piper and Will coming and going from the hospital when Elena had been born, and even an article mentioning Piper’s name in the list of impressive guests spotted at Drew Tanaka’s party (Jason’s name was, also, conspicuously missing from that list). Annabeth had never thought about it, mostly because she didn’t bother keeping track of what in Piper’s life the media decided to cover, let alone what it chose not to cover, but there was no way that timing could be a coincidence.

Her phone buzzing to notify her of a new text message shook Annabeth out of the trance she’d found herself in while scrolling through headlines about Piper, but she breathed a sigh of relief when she discovered it was Percy.

**PERCY (12:02PM)**  
idea  
what if u drove over here before the airport  
and i skipped an hour of training  
and we made out in ur fancy rental car

**ANNABETH (12:03PM)**  
are you sure you only want to make out?

**PERCY (12:04PM)**  
and cheat on bessie???

**ANNABETH (12:05PM)**  
how is making out in another car not already cheating on her???

**PERCY (12:06PM)**  
its a very fine line  
but she would def be jealous if we had sex in another cat  
….  
CAR NO OMG

**ANNABETH (12:08PM)**  
i love you so much

**PERCY (12:09PM)**  
dont talk to me im traumatized now  
we may never have sex again

**ANNABETH (12:10PM)**  
at least i’ll never have to figure out how to cover up bite marks on my chest in july again

**PERCY (12:12PM)**  
why would u cover them when theyre so pretty  
also u liked it so idk why ur complaining now

**ANNABETH (12:13PM)**  
don’t you have swimming to do?

**PERCY (12:15PM)**  
probably  
miss u already tho

**ANNABETH (12:16PM)**  
you’re very needy  
but i miss you already too

Sending that last text, Annabeth noticed the time and cursed under her breath. Her flight out wasn’t for another four hours, but she didn’t want to be rushed at the airport. It was time for her to go, so she packed the last of her belongings into the bag Piper had prepared the day before and hurried out of her room for the last time. Back behind the wheel of her rental car – which really had been too much, considering she only drove it to and from the airport and could have just taken a shuttle or cab for that – after checking out, Annabeth was free to think again.

The most logical conclusion she could come to was that Jove had been keeping Piper out of the press on purpose while she and Jason had been together, but that, again, begged the question of why. Keeping Piper out of the spotlight kept Jason out of the spotlight too, yes, but that alone didn’t satisfy the nagging feeling in the back of Annabeth’s mind, and it didn’t relieve the ache still throbbing dully behind her eye. Protecting Piper would have been a waste of time and energy when Jove had clearly planned to get rid of her long before he finally made his move.

Jason hardly used social media, but that was more a Jason thing and not really any kind of restriction that had been put on him. His Instagram was private, had all of four pictures on it, and Annabeth wasn’t even sure he had the app on his phone. Mostly it existed for others to tag him in photos, something she assumed Thalia or Nico – who both used social media more regularly – had bullied him into. 

A few times, when they’d first been getting to know Jason, Annabeth and Piper had poked around online to learn things about the Grace family. Aside from Harry, who had been front and center as Jove’s apparent successor, Frank’s dad, who made headlines occasionally for his work at the Pentagon, and Diana, who only really saw attention relating to her conservation work as current head of the Grace Foundation, very little existed in the public sphere about Jove’s children, grandchildren, and their various significant others. Prior to the Harry fiasco, almost everything available on the family’s personal lives had been, at worst, neutral, if not positive. Clearly, Jove kept a tight reign on the image of everyone involved with the family.

When Annabeth pulled into the car rental parking lot, she sat staring into the distance for over a full minute, mulling over what Jove’s obsession with keeping the family image as pristine as possible meant for Piper’s situation beyond that six month media blackout.

Frustrated by her own continued failure to work through this problem, Annabeth groaned out loud and then grabbed her things. On her way to the front desk to return the car, she checked her phone, discovering yet another text awaiting her. This time she welcomed the distraction, even though it wasn’t Percy.

**JASON (12:36PM)**  
Do you need a ride home from the airport tonight?

**ANNABETH (12:48PM)**  
i’ll just take the train or something

**JASON (12:49PM)**  
That’s an almost two hour trip.  
At least take a cab. Use my card for it.

**ANNABETH (12:50PM)**  
you’re so bossy lately

**JASON (12:51PM)**  
I am literally your boss, so yes.

**ANNABETH (12:52PM)**  
this is me turning in my two week notice

**JASON (12:52PM)**  
Take a cab, Annabeth!

**ANNABETH (12:53PM)**  
text piper, jason!

Annabeth had no time to wait for his reply, as the desk clerk waved her over and she became wrapped up in the process of returning her rental car. She didn’t check her phone again when that was done, hurrying off to the airport proper so she could get checked-in and through security. There would be plenty of time for tending to text messages once she found her gate, and Annabeth was also growing hungrier by the minute, between the time and the fact she hadn’t finished her breakfast. Getting some food in her stomach would be better for both her mood and mind.

McDonald’s was the closest thing to Annabeth’s gate and she really didn’t want to wait for anything more complex anyway, so she got herself chicken nuggets and fries and then found a place to settle in while waiting for her flight to board. A reply from Jason was not all that awaited her, but Annabeth decided to respond to him first, considering her last reply had been a little on the harsh side. She wouldn’t have sent it if she didn’t think Jason could take it, but touching base to make sure she hadn’t pushed the wrong button accidentally never hurt.

**JASON (12:54PM)**  
I promise I’m thinking about it.

**ANNABETH (01:43PM)**  
i promise to also think about the cab  
and i take back my two week notice

**JASON (01:44PM)**  
Being your boss is very stressful. I don’t recommend it.

**ANNABETH (01:45PM)**  
may i speak to friend jason instead of boss jason now?

**JASON (01:45PM)**  
What’s up?

**ANNABETH (01:47PM)**  
ugh my new boss seriously sucks so much  
i’m thinking about quitting

**JASON (01:49PM)**  
Goodbye. Forever.

A smile on her face and a silent laugh shaking her shoulders, Annabeth decided to leave the conversation there and flipped over to her second unread message. This one came from Piper, with an image attached – Bob curled up in a near perfect ball on Piper’s stomach, while Piper lay sprawled out on the couch, only the bottom half of her body visible.

**PIPER (01:02PM)**  
he’s been like this since before your last text

**ANNABETH (01:53PM)**  
piper that was almost three hours ago  
how have YOU not moved in that long?

**PIPER (01:55PM)**  
i am meditating before i leave for the gym in an hour  
stillness is an important step toward enlightenment

**ANNABETH (01:56PM)**  
and what’s on the tv?

**PIPER (01:58PM)**  
say yes to the dress  
i hate the families on this show  
when you get married i’m going to tell you everything you put on is beautiful

**ANNABETH (02:01PM)**  
you would let me go out looking ugly on my wedding day without saying anything?

**PIPER (02:02PM)**  
yeah  
after your wedding day you’re percy’s problem  
he has to deal with the ugly fallout  
and i get to tell you you’re pretty no matter what

Most of their lives, Piper and Annabeth had spoken in abstracts about their respective weddings. They’d never been the types to plan or daydream in great detail, but joking about what they might like or do _someday_ had been a fairly regular occurrence. That message wasn’t an abstract, though, just like Percy’s comment the night before about great-grandkids hadn’t been an abstract. And, just like the night before, Annabeth felt a heart fluttering rush at the thought of her future and how inevitable it seemed to be, not just to her or Percy, but to the people around them. Not just inevitable, either. With that offhand comment, Piper had made it sound like something exciting and to be looked forward to.

All at once, she could picture everything. Annabeth could see herself out with Piper – maybe Sally, Hazel and Estelle, too – shopping for dresses. She could imagine the stress of planning, and the nightmare of budgeting, and all the hair she’d want to pull out while trying to figure out what to do about her parents. She could practically feel the tingle of excitement, starting in the tips of her fingers and toes and spreading through the rest of her body, when it began to sink in that she was _getting married._

Just imagining all of that made Annabeth feel completely ridiculous, but in the midst of the stressful brainstorming she’d been doing all morning, that small reprieve of fantasizing was especially welcome. Annabeth felt like she should have been frightened. She’d known Percy almost exactly six months, been dating him officially just over five, and yet that picture of her future left Annabeth with a sense of peace. Knowing the direction her life was headed in, more clearly than she ever had before, even without knowing the exact timeline, gave her confidence and comfort. There was nothing for her to be scared of. 

_There was nothing for her to be scared of._

Annabeth froze with a fry halfway to her mouth, those words spinning around in her mind like threads in a tapestry, finally beginning to form an image. 

There was something for Jove to be scared of.

Since the night Piper had met with Jove they’d been operating under the assumption that he simply wanted to hurt and control people. Annabeth didn’t doubt he wanted to control Jason. Countless, quite obvious, manipulative tactics had been implemented to keep Jason obedient since long before the mess with Harry. She also believed, firmly, that Jove didn’t care at all about who he hurt in the name of maintaining his tight grip on everything and everyone. That was apparent both because of his reputation for ruthlessness in business and the disregard he’d had for the happiness of everyone around him, even his own children. Like complete idiots, the whole lot of them, they’d never once stopped to ask themselves _why_ , though.

Piper may not have been some kind of perfect, faultless, dutiful housewife stereotype, but Annabeth had never quite understood what issue Jove took with her. Even with her past relationships as a potential target for smears, which Annabeth hardly thought should have mattered outside of the 1950s, Piper was an exceptional person, well liked, successful, smart, with a degree of notoriety of her own through Tristan. Instinct had always made Annabeth think Jove feared what courage Piper might give Jason to stand up for himself, and that still sounded right to some degree, but it wasn’t _enough_ , not for Jove to go so hard and so far.

Jove could, after all, simply replace Jason, either with Frank or another one of his many children or grandchildren. People were interchangeable to him, little more than pawns who served the single purpose of advancing and protecting his place in the world. At the moment, Jason served that purpose best, but if Piper had eventually changed that, turned Jason into a liability, it would have been simple enough to toss Jason aside and fill those shoes with someone more malleable.

It was there, the answer she’d been looking for, right there in front of her, and Annabeth felt like she could touch it with the figurative fingers of her mind, but she still couldn’t see it. Jove was afraid of something. His hands had been in Piper and Jason’s relationship from the beginning for a reason. He was _hiding_ something, Annabeth just didn’t know what.

So painfully close to the answer, Annabeth’s heart pounded in her chest, her food momentarily forgotten, and her heart beginning to pound. When her phone buzzed in her hand, the sensation was frighteningly violent, breaking her concentration and making her all but literally jump.

**PIPER (02:16PM)**  
FINE  
i’m getting up  
know that bob is absolutely heartbroken you’ve shamed me into disturbing him

The texts could barely penetrate the whirlwind raging in Annabeth’s mind, so she just closed the text window. 

Annabeth took stock of both what she’d known all along and what she had concluded since that morning – for months, Jove had actively protected Piper from the attention of the press, which made no sense if he’d only intended to break her and Jason apart in the end; Jove had tried to pay Piper off first, because it was a cleaner break, but also because he’d considered the file he blackmailed her with a desperate, last ditch resort; that file didn’t contain anything about Sally’s novels, meaning Jove actively withheld anything even remotely beneficial to himself; and Jason had not appeared in a single publicly posted photo from Tristan and Naomi’s wedding.

Her mind stuck on that final point, circling back to the track she’d been on earlier. Tristan and Naomi, or at least their social media managers, had been the ones to select which photos went public. The photos had been plastered all over entertainment blogs and magazines, of course, but only after they’d been released directly by the newlyweds. There should have been no room for Jove to influence the selection. Jason should have been in at least as many as Percy had appeared in, maybe even more considering he’d been the date of the groom’s daughter and Percy just another guest.

Again Annabeth’s phone buzzed, and she was halfway to typing a text telling Piper to shut up (in slightly less aggressive words, but only slightly) when she realized it wasn’t even Piper who had texted her this time.

**PERCY (02:19PM)**  
what time do u leave again?  
are u already at the airport?

**ANNABETH (02:20PM)**  
we board around 3:30, leave a little after 4  
yeah, i’m at my gate

It made sense that Jove might have connections to Tristan and Naomi, when Annabeth thought about it. The entertainment industry was all connected to one degree or another, and Grace Media Group had branched out into Hollywood the same way they’d branched out into publishing, making sure to keep a finger in every entertainment pot, not just news and media. Annabeth remembered Tristan being very cautious of Jason that weekend, too. More than once Piper had complained about Tristan’s indifference, but maybe it hadn’t been indifference at all.

When Annabeth’s phone buzzed a third time, she might have screamed were it not for the fact she was in public.

**JASON (02:24PM)**  
What if we compromise?  
I’ll pick you up myself and we’ll go for dinner since we couldn’t do breakfast yesterday.

**ANNABETH (02:26PM)**  
that’s hardly a compromise  
but i promised to spend tonight with piper anyway, so no, but thank you  
i’ll take a cab

If Jove was somehow connected to Tristan, or Naomi, or vice versa, it didn’t make sense to Annabeth that he would have included them in the file at all, though. He would have cared about protecting them if he was in some kind of business with them. At least, she thought he would have. She’d always figured Jove had been the one to help brush the story of Bianca’s death under the rug the year before when it had almost come out after Percy’s big, record breaking swim. That had to mean Jove looked out of his buddies.

_Buzz_. Annabeth sighed.

**PERCY (02:32PM)**  
u should send me bacon when you get home  
smuggle it in as care package

**ANNABETH (02:33PM)**  
you’re so dedicated to doing this right that you wouldn’t even eat birthday cake  
we both know you wouldn’t actually have any if i sent it

_Except_ , Annabeth thought, chewing mindlessly on her bottom lip, her meal set aside and completely forgotten for the second time that day, _doing a favor for the di Angelos wasn’t the same as looking out for a buddy. Favors happened for all kinds of reasons._

_Buzz_. At this rate, Annabeth should just silence her phone.

**PIPER (02:38PM)**  
i’m always scared i’m going to run into reyna at the gym  
like i know she doesn’t hate me, but  
still scary

**ANNABETH (02:40PM)**  
if you ran into her you would just end up getting burgers and talking for hours

Looking into the void of the airport around her, Annabeth tried to focus back in. From what she’d heard through Jason and Hazel both, Jove went way back with the di Angelos. If he truly considered anyone a friend, it had to be them, and they were just as tied up together in business as their private lives. Nico and Hazel’s dad was also one of the biggest shareholders in Grace Media Group outside the family itself.

_Buzz_. Annabeth rolled her eyes.

**JASON (02:44PM)**  
I’ll consider you taking the cab a win.  
We should still do lunch or something this week.

**ANNABETH (02:45PM)**  
sounds good  
we should choose a contractor before we leave for rome anyway

Annabeth really wished Rome wasn’t still a full week away. The more stressed about this whole situation she became, the more she wanted to be able to throw herself into Percy’s arms. It would also be much easier to sort through her own thoughts if everyone was together, with Jason finally being in the know about that file and Piper hopefully knowing about the conspiracy against Jove, so she could pick their minds as well. No one else had the full picture.

_Buzz._

**PERCY (02:51PM)**  
but if i pretend to beg u to send some i can pretend its not my choice  
suffering is easier to endure when theres someone else to blame

**ANNABETH (02:52PM)**  
that’s a very wise sentiment to have been inspired by bacon

Not that Annabeth really had the full picture herself. For all she knew, there was something in Jove’s file that might actually be helpful. Even Piper only had her own memories to work with, not the actual file itself.

_Buzz._

**PIPER (02:55PM)**  
that was before beryl freaked me out  
i’m still not convinced there’s not something up with jason

**ANNABETH (02:56PM)**  
i promise if there was anything to worry about, i would tell you  
thalia or frank would have told me

One thing was sure, Jove had very effectively divided and conquered their group. No one having a full picture made it harder for them to put together whatever clues he may have accidentally left behind. He’d played Piper’s weaknesses against her and he’d gambled on Jason’s being consistent. Annabeth still thought Jove had underestimated Jason, and Thalia, too, but clearly they’d underestimated Jove just as badly by not even considering a more direct motive for his actions.

_Buzz._

**PERCY (02:59PM)**  
bacon is one of mankinds greatest inspirations

**ANNABETH (03:00PM)**  
if only you were so inspired by me

Annabeth felt like she was losing her mind. There was only half an hour until her flight started to board. Maybe it was better for her to give up this futile fight for answers until she got home. Her headache had not abated, but she could run to the kiosk a couple gates down and get some Tylenol. That and a nap on the plane could probably cure her.

_Buzz._

**PIPER (03:03PM)**  
yeah, but what if thalia and frank don’t want people knowing?  
wait, since when did you talk to thalia?

**ANNABETH (03:04PM)**  
we don’t talk often  
after frank’s bday we just kind of started checking in with each other

It was a half-assed half-truth at best, but technically Annabeth and Thalia had started checking in with each other after Frank’s birthday party, if only because that war council Jason had called happened after Frank’s birthday. The excuse would have to do, though. Annabeth didn’t have the brainpower to spare crafting something sturdier. All these distracting texts were bad enough, but if she stopped replying her friends would worry about her and that was the last thing she wanted.

Distracting texts. _Distractions._

_Buzz_. Yeah, Annabeth was definitely going to scream.

**JASON (03:07PM)**  
You can decide on the contractor yourself.  
I probably won’t even talk to them and I trust your judgment more than my own on this.

**ANNABETH (03:08PM)**  
you’re not actually much of a boss, you know

While Piper had never told Annabeth what Jove’s file contained on anyone else, Annabeth did know one thing – it was jam packed, full of even seemingly inconsequential details, like financial records of Annabeth’s extended family that would be, at worst, embarrassing, if anyone would care at all, and even though Annabeth hadn’t spoken to her extended family in years. Jove had kept anything that might hurt him out of the file and filled it with insignificant nonsense. Scaring Piper with how thorough he’d been obviously helped make his threat more effective, but a few critical blows with especially painful secrets would have had just as much impact with half the work.

Jove was scared of something, Jove was hiding something, and Jove had jumped through a lot of hoops to keep them distracted. Annabeth still didn’t know for sure what the key to answering those questions was, but she was beginning to think it might just have been under their noses the whole time, either in what Jove chose to include or what he chose to omit.

She knew what she needed to do, and in a blink she was unlocking her phone again to send a very pressing text to her best friend, excitement making her thumbs fly over the keyboard at high speeds. When Annabeth got back to New York, she would work out the last few details with Piper, then Piper would finally tell Jason the whole truth when everyone got to Rome, and soon, together, they would take Jove Grace down for good.

**ANNABETH (03:11PM)**  
i know you didn’t want to tell me what it said about anyone else  
but when i get home we need to talk about what was in jove’s file  
everything

Annabeth breathed a sigh of relief, at peace for what felt like the first time since that morning, now that she had some kind of direction and plan. That peace lasted her roughly thirty seconds.

**JASON (03:12PM)**  
What file?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello again!
> 
> sorry there were no updates last week. i posted on [twitter](https://twitter.com/waddled) and [tumblr](https://couvers.tumblr.com/), but wasn't sure how to update about it here - i got myself kind of sick and just needed a week off to rest and recover. i'm feeling a lot better now and hopefully well on the road to recovery, so i decided to jump back into things! if i have to miss updates in the future, i'll do my best to post something on twitter or tumblr again, so you don't have to worry. 💕


	120. Chapter 120

Piper stared at Annabeth, her mind refusing to process what she was hearing. Annabeth had been home for all of three minutes and had just completely unraveled Piper’s entire life with six words. So few words should not have held so much power.

“I don’t think I heard you right,” Piper said, swallowing hard and crossing her arms where she sat on the couch. “Say it again.”

Annabeth stood across the living room, wringing her hands in the same anxious gesture that had become habit for Piper the last couple months. Not once could Piper ever remember seeing Annabeth so scared to say something, but she was scared, and guilt ridden to boot. “I told Jason about Jove’s file. _Accidentally_ , but still.”

No reply would formulate as Piper continued to stare at her best friend, mindlessly gaping. After everything, weeks and months of keeping this secret, living in fear of what telling the truth might mean or look like, actively deciding not to tell Jason this very thing _the night before_ because he wanted to wait until they were safely in Rome, it was out there anyway. Piper hadn’t even been able to tell him herself, and she could only imagine that fact making the truth an even more bitter pill for Jason to swallow.

“What exactly did you say?” Piper finally asked, not even sure how she managed to come up with the thought, let alone actually speak it.

“Like I said, it was an accident,” Annabeth repeated, something she had insisted on from the very first time she’d confessed to her mistake. “I know I’ve always said you need to tell him, and I’ve been pretty pushy about it, and yes, I can admit I thought about just doing it myself a couple times because I’ve been so frustrated by both of you, but I promise I would never have–”

“I get it,” Piper interrupted, her heart rate rising with every single anxiety ridden word Annabeth spoke, “but what exactly did you say?”

After a few deep, calming breaths, Annabeth nodded once. “It was a text that I meant to send to you. I can show you the whole thing, but I’d said that I wanted to talk to you about Jove’s file when I got home. I didn’t even realize what I’d done until Jason replied.”

“He replied,” Piper repeated, again struggling to make sense of what she was hearing despite the very simple, common wording. “And what did _he_ say?”

“ _What file_?” Annabeth answered, wincing. “I haven’t said anything else to him yet, but I’m going to need to soon. The excuse of my flight and getting home will only last so long before he’s going to start asking questions about why I’m not replying.”

They definitely needed to reply to him, to say just about _anything_ to him, but Piper still couldn’t begin to imagine what they could say, or should say. Lying to him obviously wasn’t an option. More than enough lies had been told since May and Piper intended to tell Jason only the truth moving forward. If he didn’t want to hear the whole story yet, though, she didn’t want to force it on him. Piper also intended to respect his decision, and the boundary he had set, because he’d been right about her lack of trust before and he deserved to be in control of when and how things happened from here on out.

“Tell Jason this is what I wanted to talk to him about,” Piper decided, her dinner turning heavy in her stomach, “and that if he wants to, he can call me, or come over, or whatever, and I’ll explain all of it to him right now, but it’s his choice.”

Nodding, Annabeth pulled her phone out of her pocket and started to type out the message. Piper felt ridiculously anxious while watching, her mind still reeling over what all of this might mean. If Jason changed his mind, made too curious by Annabeth’s slip up to wait, and decided to get it over with tonight, Piper wondered if she would be able to summon the courage she’d had the night before. Even that morning she’d marveled at her own brazenness just hours earlier, as if it were a mystery to her how she’d managed to put it all aside and power through the hurdles that had popped up in her way.

“It’s sent,” Annabeth reported, setting her phone on the coffee table between them after. Her eyes fell on Piper then, still dripping with an almost uncharacteristic degree of remorse. “Piper, I’m so sorry. You believe that this was an accident, right?”

“Yeah,” Piper replied, but she was only able to meet Annabeth’s eye for a few seconds before she had to look away. Understanding and believing it had been an accident didn’t make her any less upset it had happened.

Neither of them spoke, staying silent where they each stood and sat. All Piper wanted was for Annabeth’s phone to buzz and light up, announcing Jason’s response. She didn’t even care what his reply might actually be at this point, or know what she might prefer it to be, just wanted to know what he decided so she could focus on getting through the rest of the night. If he didn’t reply and she had to live in limbo trying to manage her overactive mind, Piper might actually, finally snap.

It wasn’t Annabeth’s phone that buzzed two minutes later, though, it was Piper’s. Her eyes flashed to the screen and when she saw Jason’s name on the notification window, every single thing she’d felt – from despondency, to self hatred, to the tiniest hints of hope – all came crashing down on her at once. God, she felt like the single most unhinged person in the world, but getting that text from him after nearly two full months of silence filled her with a degree of relief and happiness that shouldn’t have been possible, and she hadn’t even bothered to read the actual content of the text yet.

**JASON (8:58PM)**  
The offer to come over is tempting, but not because I’ve changed my mind about when we should talk.  
I just want to see you again.

As soon as Piper read the words, she had to set her phone aside and bury her face in her hands. The first sob came at the same moment as her tears spilled over, the impossibly intense relief and happiness she’d experienced only seconds before growing exponentially. A few seconds later, Annabeth had crossed the room and taken a seat beside Piper on the couch, arms wrapping around her and drawing her into an embrace.

“Is he mad?” Annabeth asked softly, her hand rubbing slowly up and down Piper’s back.

“No,” Piper replied, the word barked between sobs and full of disbelief over the fact. “He’s pretty much the opposite.”

Annabeth held Piper a little tighter, holding her together in those surreal and blissful couple of minutes it took Piper to accept she wasn’t dreaming. Part of her wanted to tell him to do it, to come over and fill the rest of the night with anything and everything other than talking. That would be wrong, though. They needed to talk first. Those stolen kisses and I love yous the night before could not be repeated while there were lies and secrets still between them. None of that stopped Piper from wanting it all the same.

“These are happy tears, then?” Annabeth asked, tentatively, when Piper finally pulled away.

“Happy tears, yes,” Piper answered, nodding and wiping those very tears from her face with the backs of her hands. After a couple, centering breaths, Piper reached for her phone and read over Jason’s text again, allowing Annabeth to read it as well.

“I’ve been telling him to text you that all day,” Annabeth said, heaving a heavy and affectionate sigh.

Piper looked up at Annabeth, eyebrows drawn together in confused surprise as she sniffled. “You have?”

“The two of you are completely hopeless,” Annabeth told Piper, tucking some hair behind Piper’s ear and letting out another sigh. “Like the very first thing he asked me today was how you were holding up after last night. I’ve been telling you, too – both of you are going to be happier if you’re just honest and direct with each other about what you’re feeling.”

Too long Piper had run away from her own feelings, and too long she’d ignored this very obvious thing Annabeth had been trying to tell her. Honesty might be hard, but it was what Jason deserved. Piper was beginning to think honesty was what she deserved, too. She deserved to be honest with herself, and to hear what Jason felt. If what he was feeling might be difficult for her to hear, she even deserved that, not as punishment for her mistakes, but because knowing would be the only way to repair the damage she’d done, and repairing the damage she’d done would be the only way for her to be truly happy again.

“I know I should have listened to you from the beginning,” Piper said, softly, ashamed of her own stubbornness and cowardice. She didn’t apologize, though. Annabeth had made it clear enough there was no need for apologies between them.

“Next time just remember I’m always right,” Annabeth replied with a playful roll of her eyes. The words might have had more impact had Annabeth not still seemed so repentant for her slip up texting Jason. “Now, don’t leave him hanging. He’s probably freaking out the same way you did last Tuesday.”

It was hard for Piper to imagine Jason _freaking out_ , but she knew Annabeth was right about this, too. In the time between sending her text on Tuesday and showing up at Jason’s building, Piper had done plenty of freaking out. She didn’t want to leave Jason to suffer through that on top of everything else they’d been through the last couple months, so she looked at her phone and took a deep breath while she crafted her answer – an honest answer, even if her honesty still felt somewhat selfish.

**PIPER (09:09PM)**  
i just want to see you too  
i wouldn’t trust myself not to do anything we’d both probably regret later if i saw you now tho  
we can make it one more week

“So,” Piper said, turning to Annabeth after locking her phone and setting it aside. It buzzed in her hand almost immediately, and she wanted more than she’d wanted almost anything in her life to check it, but she knew she would fall victim to the temptation to spend the entire night texting Jason if she risked so much as looking at what he said, and her heart really couldn’t take falling back into that wonderful habit while so much between them remained up in the air. “What were you saying about the file when you accidentally texted him?”

“Right,” Annabeth said, folding her hands in her lap and nodding once. “You said before that you didn’t want to tell me what you saw in that file about everyone else, and I understand that. Honestly, I don’t want to know everyone’s secrets either, because it’s a major invasion of their privacy and I hate even just knowing the few things I do. That said, I think there might be something in there that could give us ammunition against Jove, or at least help us to figure out what his angle actually is.”

On top of the fact that Piper had only looked at the file once, and had been both mentally and emotionally overwhelmed when she did, she had been working hard since to forget what she’d read in those pages. The last thing she wanted now was to try digging back into what she’d been so intent on burying. Piper trusted Annabeth, though, and knew they wouldn’t be in the situation they were now at all if she hadn’t lost that trust and isolated herself back in May.

“I’m not sure how much I actually remember,” Piper confessed, still apprehensive, but willing to discuss their options. “I don’t see how any of it would be helpful, either.”

“You remember how I told you about Sally’s publisher, and how you didn’t remember there being anything about her books in the file?” Annabeth started, and Piper nodded to confirm remembering those things. “Jove, or whoever he paid to put that file together, obviously would have known who Sally is, which means he – or they, whatever – actively withheld things that could potentially come back on Jove or the Graces.” 

Piper continued to nod, but she wasn’t sure what Annabeth could be getting at. “We’ve been over this, though. It’s weird, yeah, but if there was something else suspicious withheld that either of us knew enough about to realize, I would have seen it the first time, or you would have brought it up when I told you everything I remembered about you and your family.”

“Maybe,” Annabeth conceded, the lack of hesitation in her response telling Piper she’d already considered this fact, “but we also didn’t know to look for it at first.”

“I mean, we can go back over what I remember of what was in there about you, but what good would telling you everything else do?” Piper asked, still uncomfortable with that prospect.

“You mentioned that the file was stuffed with pointless, basic information on just about everyone, some things that no one is even trying to hide,” Annabeth explained, and again Piper sensed this had all been given a great deal of thought. “I know Jove probably wanted to freak you out with the sheer volume of information, but what was the point of throwing, like, literal publicly accessible property reports on my family’s assets in Boston? Or my school records? What’s he going to do with that – call prospective employers and tell them I accidentally set a kitchen on fire in tenth grade?”

If these were conclusions Annabeth had come to in just the last twelve hours, no wonder she had spaced out enough to send Jason that text. When Annabeth got caught up in an idea, her attention span for anything else became nonexistent. They were probably lucky she hadn’t said more, or something potentially more damaging, or that she hadn’t sent that text to Percy when his focus needed to be on swimming.

“It’s misdirection,” Annabeth continued, her expression becoming more determined by the second. “Jove wants us looking everywhere, thinking about _everything_ , because only a few things actually matter, and because I’m pretty sure he has something to hide.”

“Obviously he has things to hide,” Piper replied, still not seeing Annabeth’s point. “We know he’s done what he did to me to other people before, for starters, and quite possibly worse based on what Luke hinted at, but I’m sure there are tons of skeletons in Jove’s closet professionally, too.”

Annabeth’s frustration became instantly apparent. Her shoulders slumped and she pressed her palm to her forehead while taking a few slow breaths. Whatever realization she’d come to on her own clearly wasn’t coming across to Piper now. That, or what had seemed like a breakthrough to Annabeth on her own simply wasn’t that big of a deal when said out loud. Knowing Annabeth, Piper had a feeling the issue was in communication and not in Annabeth’s deductive reasoning skills.

After taking a moment to reorganize her thoughts, a process that was always obvious to Piper in the way Annabeth’s eyes would dart in countless directions over the course of several seconds, Annabeth squared her shoulders once again. “Did you ever notice that Jason wasn’t in _any_ of the pictures from your dad’s wedding that were released to the press?”

“That can’t be right,” Piper objected immediately, but even as she spoke the words, she realized she’d never actually looked over what Tristan and Naomi had posted, only the pictures that had been sent to her directly.

“It is,” Annabeth insisted. “I spent close to an hour today looking through everything, that’s why I texted asking about what your dad sent you, but Jason’s not even in the _background_ of any of the pictures shared with the media, as if he wasn’t there at all. There’s no way that was an accident.”

“Jason and I had only been together for like a month and a half at that point,” Piper argued, rolling her eyes. “You know my dating history better than anyone. I’m sure my dad just wanted to avoid the awkwardness of having some random ex in our pictures.”

“Or,” Annabeth said slowly, dragging the word out to prepare Piper for the very unpleasant thing undoubtedly about to follow it, “maybe _Jove_ didn’t want Jason in those pictures. You remember how weird your dad was about Jason that week. He barely acknowledged Jason’s existence.”

Piper shook her head, adamant, because she refused to believe even for a moment that was possible. “No. _No_. There’s no way my dad is connected to Jove, if that’s what you’re implying. I would know. And, anyway, there was a ton of dirt on my dad in that file. If they were connected somehow, Jove wouldn’t have put all of that in there.”

Even Piper knew that was a flimsy excuse. Jove was, indirectly, connected to Sally and he’d put plenty about her private life in the file, including the very incriminating evidence of her affair with Poe. The di Angelos were long time family friends, people Jove and the Graces were deeply entangled with, and yet Jove had dared to include reports of Bianca’s death in that file, too, even though the di Angelos wanted to keep that story as private as possible. Including those details had benefited Jove, so he probably hadn’t hesitated in the slightest to throw his allies under the bus.

Jove certainly had a lot of information on Tristan, though. The financial records especially should have left Piper asking these very kinds of questions from the moment she’d first read through that file. Aside from that public information on Annabeth’s extended family’s assets, and financial records on Sally and Paul she now realized Jove probably had indirect access to because Sally worked for him, nothing else in the file had been quite so detailed and invasive that wasn’t personal.

All of that didn’t even scratch the surface on how little Piper had actually known about her own father prior to the last few months – that he’d been dating Naomi so long and already been engaged before their sudden wedding announcement, just to begin with. She still didn’t know much, if she was honest with herself. Tristan didn’t know much about Piper, either, and that didn’t mean she was secretly tied up in questionable, shady dealings with a sociopathic billionaire. Except, she literally was, even if not voluntarily, and she had never so much as mentioned it to her dad.

Still, Piper refused to entertain the idea her dad could be tied up with Jove in any way, shape, or form, no matter how logical it began to seem the more she thought about it.

“No,” Piper said again, shaking her head. “Jason not being in those pictures was a coincidence and nothing else.”

“Don’t you think it’s at least worth considering?” Annabeth pressed, though her tone was not without sympathy. “We’ve never once stopped to think about it, because we’ve been too wrapped up in being terrified of what Jove has on us, but he’s clearly scared of you, Piper. There has to be a reason for it.”

That, at least, was an idea Piper could laugh in the face of. “Jove is not _scared of me_.”

“Then why was he so desperate to get rid of you?” Annabeth asked, eyebrows raised.

“He told me why – because I’m a leech and a whore,” Piper reminded Annabeth, the memory as bitter in her mind as the words tasted on her tongue when speaking them aloud.

Annabeth’s entire face twisted with as much distaste as Piper felt. “You’re neither of those things and we both know it.”

“But I _am_ those things in Jove’s eyes,” Piper argued, defeated, because she’d come to terms with that much a long time ago. “To Jove, Jason should be with someone who has influence, power, a recognizable family name, and access to a much bigger bank account than my dad’s. If I can’t offer Jason those things, I’m just using him.”

“I don’t buy that for a second,” Annabeth replied, crossing her arms and shaking her head. “Someone like Jove probably has plenty of experience dealing with gold diggers and social climbers. You never asked Jason for anything, and when Jove offered you a pretty impressive chunk of change, you shot him down without a second thought. At the very least, he was worried you might influence Jason into standing up to him, but I don’t think the mere possibility of that would be enough for him to put so much effort into getting rid of you when Jason had shown no signs of rebellion before you broke up.”

“You want there to be an easy, clear cut answer to explain and fix all of this, Annabeth, I get that,” Piper said, reaching out to take her best friend’s hand and give it a gentle squeeze. “There isn’t one, though. Jove is selfish, and paranoid, and controlling, and abusive. That’s it. He does what he wants, because he can, and because no one is ever going to stop him. We can pick apart every little thing I remember about what’s in that file and all it’s going to do is make us both feel like shit for invading the privacy of the people we care about. I’m sorry, but I don’t think it’s worth it.”

They’d reached an impasse. Piper would not be moved, but Annabeth still clearly believed she was on to something. Trying to pinpoint some kind of weakness they could exploit against Jove was an admirable endeavor, but Piper also considered it futile. Greater people than the two of them probably wanted to bring Jove Grace down. If it were possible, it would have happened a long time ago. Unfortunately, that meant they were at his mercy, and probably always would be. All Piper could hope, if Jason still wanted her after hearing the whole truth, was that the fallout of defying Jove might not be as bad as they feared, or that they might be able to find some small way to mitigate it.

Despite her own resolve on the matter, though, Piper still found her mind lingering on the same points Annabeth had highlighted. Piper’s gut, if she allowed herself to listen to it, told her that those were far too many coincidences for them all to truly be coincidental. _Misdirection_ , Annabeth had called it, like a magician trying to make a crowd focus on one hand with showmanship and flourish while the other is doing the real work to carry out the illusion.

Piper was too tired, and not just physically, that night. She was emotionally tired. Existentially exhausted. If Annabeth was right, that probably meant Jove had succeeded. His showmanship, those evil little flourishes, had effectively left her blind to whatever illusion he’d been weaving.

When Piper climbed into bed a few hours later, her eyes fell on her phone, and her thoughts turned to the reply from Jason she still hadn’t read. She considered saving it for the morning, so she’d have something wonderful to start her day with, but after her taxing conversation with Annabeth and the draining thoughts it had inspired, she needed a little hope to cling to before falling asleep. After nearly two months of next to no contact with Jason, of surviving every painful day without seeing or hearing from him, a few minutes and a couple kisses had turned her right back into a proper addict. One week should have been nothing in comparison, and yet the seven full days remaining until they left for Rome felt like an actual eternity.

**JASON (09:10PM)**  
There’s nothing we might do that I’d regret, Pipes.

Longer than quite possibly ever in their relationship, Piper tried to think of a reply. It was hard for her to know how to balance keeping a safe distance and matching the clearly flirtatious tone Jason had established. Going too far in either direction could cause them plenty of new problems. Being too standoffish might make Jason doubt her feelings. Being too forward might lead to them rushing into something before they’d done the most important thing – talk.

**PIPER (11:48PM)**  
you underestimate my self control

**JASON (11:50PM)**  
You overestimate mine.

A smile pulled at her lips as she read that text over, so easily and boldly sent, playful, but with an undertone of danger. There was nothing they might do that he’d regret, and his self-control was just as flimsy as her own now. Piper wouldn’t be able to truly believe in a future for them until the air between them was clear, but for one night she decided to let herself picture it and hope.

**PIPER (11:53PM)**  
goodnight, mr. grace

**JASON (11:54PM)**  
Goodnight, Miss McLean.


	121. Chapter 121

“You can leave his dry food out all day, but at breakfast and dinner he gets half a can of wet food,” Piper said, her face pinched in a stern expression. Will held a squirming Bob in his arms, eyebrows raised as he listened to her lecture on kitten care, which had been going on much more longer than necessary already and seemed like it might never actually end. “If you need to buy more food, make sure it’s the kitten formula, because it has special nutrients, and don’t get a different brand because switching can make him sick to his stomach. He likes to sleep in bed with you, but he doesn’t sleep through the whole night, so keep your door open for him to come and go or he’ll scratch at it. He’s never been on stairs before, though, so keep an eye on him today and make sure he doesn’t hurt himself.”

“Piper,” Annabeth said, quickly transitioning from simple exasperation to actual annoyance, “he’s a kitten. He jumps on his scratching post all the time. I’m sure he’ll be able to figure out stairs.”

“Stairs are different than a scratching post,” Piper insisted, turning her glare on Annabeth. “His post is carpeted so he can dig his claws in if he slips or misses his jump. The stairs are hardwood.”

Bob had escaped Will’s arms, clawing his way up to rest on Will’s shoulder instead, though thankfully his caretaker didn’t seem to mind. “I’ve had a cat before, Piper. I know how to take care of them.”

“When did you have a cat?” Piper replied, lips curling into a skeptical pout as she looked back at Will, as if her not having heard this fact about him yet offended her.

“We got one when I was like six or seven,” he answered, Bob unbothered by the way he shrugged.

“Huh,” Piper huffed, narrowing her eyes at him for several seconds before finally, miraculously letting up. “Okay, but I’m serious, William. Watch him the first time he tries the stairs.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes, slipping her arm through Piper’s to try dragging the maniac out the door of the brownstone. “We need to go.”

They had stopped both to pick up Hazel on their way to the airport and drop off Bob for Will to watch while everyone else was away in Rome. It should have been a quick exchange, but they’d been there close to an hour, between Hazel not quite having finished packing and Piper’s apparent separation anxiety over the kitten. Being on time didn’t matter as much as it might with a normal flight, since they made their own schedule taking Jason’s private jet, but Annabeth didn’t want to keep their friends and family waiting, and no one wanted to leave the flight crew hanging.

“Send me a picture of him every day,” Piper added as they started toward the front door. “Seriously, William, _every_ day. He’s growing so much right now, I don’t want to miss it.”

“I’ll send you two pictures a day,” Will replied, waving and following them to the door, “one at breakfast and one at dinner.”

“You better,” Piper said, stopping with Annabeth once they got to the door and had stepped outside. “I’ll miss you, too.”

Will smiled, appearing as affectionately annoyed as Annabeth felt. “Wish Percy luck for me, have a safe flight and a good trip, and I’ll see you in a few weeks.”

Piper stood on the stoop for several more seconds, staring at Bob on Will’s shoulder, her entire face colored with sadness, and then she turned away and headed down the block toward where Bessie and Hazel awaited without looking back. As ridiculous as the display seemed to Annabeth, warmth spread through her chest over how attached Piper had become to the kitten. Percy might have been the one to bring Bob home, and everyone might have called him Percy and Annabeth’s kitten, but over the course of the last month, he’d definitely developed a special bond with Piper. That little ball of fluff had certainly been the comfort she’d needed.

Mid-morning traffic wasn’t as bad as Annabeth had anticipated, so they made good time to the airport once they were on the road. Piper and Hazel both sat in Bessie’s back seat, pouring over their phones. The night before they had made themselves a group chat with Cal to start planning together for the next three weeks. Not everything they wanted to do would be as a group, but not having to jump around a bunch of different message windows made it a lot easier to get everyone on the same page. Percy had told Annabeth that the guys had followed suit almost as soon as they’d found out about the girls’ idea. Merging the two chats might have been even more efficient, were it not for the glaring, ever developing issue of _Piper and Jason._

The week leading up to their trip had been a strange one. Aside from the few messages Piper and Jason had exchanged on Sunday, they’d gone back to radio silence, but with a degree of hopefulness, breath held in anticipation. Piper had been in high spirits while getting ready for the trip, and when Annabeth had met with Jason to finalize a few details for his condo, he’d been much more enthusiastic about life in general than she’d seen him since May. One thing was certain in Annabeth’s mind – the next three weeks were going to be make or break. But, first, they needed to get to the airport.

Once, the summer after their sophomore year of high school, Annabeth had flown on Tristan’s private jet with him and Piper to Orlando. He’d had a movie to film on location for a few weeks and the girls wanted to do Disney World. Taking that jet had prepared Annabeth for the streamline experience of flying private at the airport – a special terminal for boarding away from the masses, no security check, no baggage claim, and no waiting at the gate. It had not prepared her for the Grace family jet. Probably nothing in the world could have ever prepared her for _that._

Tristan’s plane had been relatively small, enough room to accommodate a handful of people in seats significantly more comfortable and spacious than first class commercially. The Grace jet was bigger even than most commercial planes, state of the art, and came complete with a red carpet lined stairway to get from ground level onto the aircraft. Airport and plane staff insisted on doing just about everything for them as soon as they set foot on airport premises, taking bags without allowing the three girls to lift a finger and offering them any assistance imaginable. Annabeth was a little overwhelmed, feeling guilty as she watched her, Piper and Hazel’s numerous, giant, heavy bags be handled for them, but she wasn’t given much of a choice in the matter.

Jason and Frank had, of course, already arrived with the girls got in, waiting to greet them in the entryway of the plane right at the top of the stairs. As soon as Hazel set foot on the plane, she tackled Frank in a hug. When Piper followed close behind, Jason gave her a tight and tentative smile, the air between them so highly charged even Annabeth could feel it. The smile Jason offered Annabeth was much wider and more relaxed, however. 

“You’re the first ones here, but you can make yourselves comfortable in the lounge,” Jason said, nodding to the right of the entryway. 

Lounge seemed like a very misleading descriptor. The room took up the greatest portion of the plane, open concept between a living-room-esque space larger than the living room in Annabeth’s own apartment, a full bar with four stools, and a dining area with a table big enough to seat eight people. Plush couches, armchairs, ottomans, side tables, a single coffee table and three flat screen TVs filled the so called lounge. Everything was tied together with matching throw pillows, plenty of artwork, a bright white color scheme with hardwood accents, and a generous littering of light fixtures that played up the limited lighting from standard plane sized windows marvelously. It could rival any five-star hotel for design, comfort and amenities. And it was a plane.

Hazel followed Frank into the lounge and Piper tagged along after them, her wide eyes and raised eyebrows making it clear she was holding back a few smart remarks about the over the top extravagance. Coming from Piper, that kind of judgment really meant something. Annabeth decided to stay behind for a few seconds, trying to smother a manic laugh. “Since Percy isn’t here to say it–”

“I have too much money, I know,” Jason interrupted with a sigh. “From now on, any time you say that I add ten grand to your consulting fee on my condo.”

Annabeth wasn’t sure whether he meant that threat to be serious or not, but she decided to gamble just the same. “You saying that so casually is yet more evidence that you have _way_ too much money.”

“I’m transferring the cash before we take off,” he replied flatly, giving her shoulder a gentle shove and then pointing toward the lounge. “Go, before I decide to throw you off the plane for being mean to me.”

“Poor little rich boy,” she teased, though she took a couple steps toward the lounge to appease him. “How would you it explain to Percy when you landed in Rome without me?”

His poker face broke all too easily into a smile. “Percy would understand better than anyone exactly why you had to be left behind.”

“Now who’s the mean one?” Annabeth said, not in the slightest bit offended. Jason had maintained his ability to tease all along, but there was a lightness about him now that made Annabeth especially happy to see and hear.

“Still you,” Jason called, even after she’d turned away from him to join the other three in the lounge. She plopped down on a love seat beside Piper and deposited her small carry on bag by her feet.

After making herself comfortable, Annabeth did her best to gauge how her best friend seemed to be handling that short and intense exchange with Jason. Piper gave no indication of how she felt, instead kicking her feet up on an ottoman and reclining where she sat, making the place her own without the slightest hesitation. Annabeth couldn’t decide if Piper acting so casual was a good or bad thing. Jason had seemed unaffected as well, but they could both very well be putting on a show for their friends. Unless they decided to confide in her, there was nothing Annabeth could do to help either of them, though. No pushing. No trying to control the situation. The last week had taught her they would do things on their own time and terms, and that they could handle themselves. Mostly.

Not an hour later, the rest of their traveling party began to arrive. Estelle was first in the door, wearing a backpack undoubtedly filled with activities to keep her busy during the flight. Annabeth braced for an instant attack hug, but instead Estelle froze at the entryway, looking up at Jason, wide eyed. He smiled at her, a little uncertain about her expression, but Sally and Paul saved him from having to figure out the inner workings of a kindergartner by appearing a second later. Just as he’d waved the three girls in, Jason directed the new arrivals toward the lounge.

From her position on the couch Annabeth had a prime view of the stunned expressions everyone wore as they took in the plane for the first time, and it was a very amusing show.

While later than expected, Annabeth did get her tackle-hug from Estelle once the five-year-old had a chance to take in her surroundings. Estelle dropped her backpack on the floor and climbed into Annabeth’s lap to make herself at home, immediately diving into an enthusiastic recounting of the journey to the airport and plane loud enough for all to hear. Annabeth had learned these kinds of excitable bursts of energy were usually followed by a crash and at least an hour long nap. The unusual circumstances would either extend her energy or cause a more extreme crash, and probably a tantrum either way.

Leo and Cal rounded out the group not fifteen minutes later with friendly greetings for Jason. Estelle’s interest in Annabeth disappeared completely as soon as the couple walked through the door, jumping up to throw herself at Leo instead. It had been over a month since Estelle had seen her brother, probably the longest she’d ever gone without him in all her five years of life, and it looked like Leo felt just as elated to be reunited from the way he scooped her off the ground and captured her in an equally vice like hug.

Once Jason had directed the final arrivals to the lounge as well, he disappeared into the front of the plane, presumably to tell the pilots they were ready for takeoff. Cal led the way, settling in an armchair with a relieved sigh. She and Leo had left Cambridge that morning, which meant they were already almost four hours into their journey. Annabeth could only guess at how exhausted they must have been, and still with eight hours of traveling ahead of them. Leo chose a spot on the couch next to Paul where Estelle slipped down to sit in the space between them, barely big enough to accommodate her.

“Are you sure this is…” Sally started, still staring at her surroundings in shock even after all the time she’d had to process their accommodations. She never finished the sentence, but Annabeth could fill in the blanks well enough. Not only did being on that plane feel entirely surreal, the fact that they weren’t paying a penny for its use made the situation even less believable.

“It’s cool,” Frank assured her, also inferring her meaning without any further explanation. He sat on the love seat across from Annabeth and Piper, taking up most of it, with Hazel cuddled up comfortably beside him, her arm on his shoulder. “Jason has full discretion to use the plane now, so long as Grandfather doesn’t need it. If we weren’t using it, it would just be sitting around at an airport somewhere.”

Piper shifted uncomfortably beside Annabeth at the mention of Jove, even casually. Knowing what Annabeth did about Frank’s opinion of the man, she was impressed by his ability to mention Jove without blatant disdain. Anyone else would assume he, at worst, felt indifferent toward his grandfather, not that he resented the man so deeply he was working with his aunt and uncle to strip Jove’s power away. Several times over the course of the last couple months Annabeth had thought Jove was a fool for underestimating Jason, but underestimation of Frank was just as foolish, maybe even more so.

Since Sunday, Annabeth had not tried to revive the discussion of Jove’s motivations. She’d decided to let her thoughts marinate a little longer. Hopefully there would be opportunities to run her ideas past Jason, and Frank, once Piper had come clean about that damned file. Until then, Annabeth would have to make due with her own continued brainstorming. Annabeth knew she was on to something, and she would continue to pull at those strings until she found wherever they led. In the meantime, she would focus on her friends and family, and supporting Percy ahead of the most important three weeks of his life.

“We’ll be taking off in a few minutes,” Jason reported when he returned from the front of the plane and joined the group, pointing a thumb over his shoulder toward the cockpit. “Everyone can stay in here for takeoff, no need to move. There are three bathrooms, so we shouldn’t have trouble on that front. We’ve got two flight attendants for the trip, so let them know if you need anything. Full bar, if anyone’s in the mood. In a couple hours the flight chef will serve our first meal, and then another meal a couple hours before we land, but if you get hungry before or in between meals there should be plenty of snacks.”

“ _Flight chef_ ,” Leo repeated with an incredulous eyebrow raised. Cal shook her head at him a second later and they exchanged a series of shrugs and grimaces in a silent argument that had Annabeth biting back a laugh.

“Yeah,” Jason confirmed, the embarrassment on his face only worsening Annabeth’s urge to laugh. “As far as rooms, I figured we’d let Paul and Sally take the master suite with Estelle. It’s back toward the front of the plane. There’s a shower in there too, if anyone wants to get cleaned up before we land, just, you know, check with Paul and Sally first.”

No one objected to Jason’s decision to give Paul, Sally and Estelle the master suite, and the two eldest members of the group agreed without hesitation that anyone who wanted it should have access to the shower. Jason breathed a quick sigh of relief, as if he’d been worried the group wouldn’t cede the nicest room so easily. Being in charge really was stressful for him.

“There’s a pull out couch in the office right behind us,” he continued, once again signaling toward the front of the plane with a thumb, then he pointed toward the back, past the dining room to the tail of the plane. “We’ve got a guest suite with a double bed and another, smaller, lounge that also has a pull out couch in the back. I’ll go ahead and sleep out here if I need to nap, so that should give everyone some private space and a spot to sleep while we’re in the air.”

“We can’t let you do that. You should take the master suite,” Paul objected, Sally nodding beside him.

“It’s really no problem,” Jason insisted, a blush beginning to creep up on his cheeks.

“Don’t you have work to do?” Frank asked, wearing a frown and just as unsatisfied with this arrangement as Paul and Sally, though Annabeth doubted he wanted Jason to take the master suite. “At least take the office. I’ll sleep out here.”

“That would leave Hazel out here too,” Jason reminded him, and with those words Frank began to grow a blush of his own – the fact that Frank and Hazel intended to share a room on the trip was an open secret, but clearly he was still getting used to the new development in their relationship. “I can work at the dining table. Really, it’s fine.”

“You take the office,” Piper said, startling Annabeth out of her own preliminary problem solving. The rest of the group seemed just as surprised by Piper speaking up, everyone turning to look in her direction. Most of them probably had no idea these weren’t the first words Piper had spoken to Jason in over a month. “Frank and Hazel can have the guest suite. Leo and Cal can take the private lounge. Annabeth and I will hunker down out here.”

Annabeth didn’t object to this arrangement in the slightest, especially considering the love seat they were seated on was almost as comfortable as any bed she’d ever slept in. It did surprise her, though, her eyes scanning Piper’s expression carefully in response to that confusion. Piper was a considerate person, but she also enjoyed her comforts, and very rarely would she offer to put Annabeth out before asking first.

Nothing in Piper’s expression betrayed what she was thinking, though, even with eyes trained forward, locked on Jason. All Annabeth could discern was a challenge, Piper daring Jason to argue the subject in the open, in front of their friends and family. 

“No,” Jason replied, resolute. Piper’s challenge had been met.

“Yes,” Piper pressed, matching his firmness without hesitation. “You don’t focus well with too many other people around. If you have work to do, you need to take the office.”

The last weeks of school, Annabeth remembered, Jason had been frighteningly distractible whenever he had been working on something he didn’t enjoy, and he definitely didn’t enjoy his job. There was no doubt he would, at least subconsciously, be looking for any and all excuses to let himself be distracted. Getting a head start on his pile of remote work during the flight would make the next few weeks easier on him, too. That explained why both Frank and Piper were so quick to object to an otherwise logical rooming arrangement – they both knew Jason’s habits and feelings about his work better than anyone else on that flight, and they both were naturally inclined to putting his needs ahead of their own.

Jason still shook his head, not backing down. If anything, Piper’s reasoning had only exaggerated the stubborn set of his jaw – he clearly had no intention of allowing her to put him before herself. “It’s very unlikely I’ll want to sleep before we get to Rome. It doesn’t make sense for me to take up a room with a bed for someone who might actually put it to use.”

“It’s only an eight hour flight, Jason,” Piper retorted, rolling her eyes. “I think we can figure out a nap rotation schedule if we need to so we’re not all sleeping at the same time.”

“Naps aren’t the only issue,” he insisted, focus entirely on Piper, as if they were both beginning to forget anyone else was around to hear. “Eight hours is a long time in close quarters. It’s only natural to want some semi-private space.”

Piper pressed her lips into a thin line, though Annabeth wasn’t sure whether she was trying to stifle a smile or bite back an especially smart remark – that smart remark probably being about how ridiculous it was to be worried about _semi-private spaces_ on an international flight. This exchange, the way Piper and Jason seemed to be bristling against each other, was undeniably strange to Annabeth. They’d always been so agreeable when they were together, barely arguing, relenting easily whenever they happened to have a disagreement. It was almost as if they were testing each other, feeling out their new dynamic, and probably trying to make up for lost time, and past mistakes, by stubbornly putting the other first.

Since it looked like neither of them would be backing down, the flight attendants had appeared to secure the plane door, and she figured no one wanted to spend half their flight listening to Piper and Jason’s weird and increasingly charged back and forth, Annabeth decided to jump in and put this conflict to rest. “Jason, you use the office for your work. Piper and I are both pretty heavy sleepers and you’re generally quiet, so if one or both of us needs to use the pullout couch, you wouldn’t be bothering us by being in there at the same time. There’s plenty of space out here for us to get comfortable, especially if everyone else will be wandering off to their respective corners of the plane.”

Three tense beats later, Jason gave a curt nod and Piper huffed in concession to the compromise.

“Is that how you two are going to be the whole trip?” Annabeth whispered, after the doors had been closed and the flight attendants had given a quick emergency procedure spiel.

Piper’s eyes flickered over to where Jason had taken a seat for takeoff, talking quietly with Frank and Hazel. The desire on her face was plain. Annabeth could tell just how much Piper hated being this close to Jason while still so impossibly far away. “I don’t know.”

“Why don’t you try talking to him while we’re in the air?” Annabeth suggested, lifting an arm to rest it on Piper’s shoulder and brush a few loose strands of hair out of her face.

“He asked me to wait for him to come to me first,” Piper reminded Annabeth, something they’d discussed at length over the last week. “I need to respect that.”

Annabeth understood Jason wanting an ocean between them and Jove before he and Piper had their long overdue conversation about what had happened in May, but she didn’t see why being in the air wasn’t an equally effective distance. They’d be staying at a Grace owned property in Rome, so it wasn’t like they’d be any further removed from Jove’s reach and influence then. Part of her wondered if Jason and Piper might just be scared now – so long as their conversation remained in the future, anything was possible. Once they had it, whatever the outcome, this limbo they were in would come to an end. If the hell of heartbreak awaited on the other side, this purgatory wouldn’t seem so bad.

“I miss him,” Piper added, the words barely more than a sigh. When she looked back at Annabeth, tears blurred her irises and her lips trembled. “How could I have been so stupid? Annabeth, if we can’t work this out I–”

“You’ll work it out,” Annabeth said, not giving Piper the opportunity to finish the thought. Despair and fear had enjoyed their day in the sun, but they would be allowed no more power. Two months had been two months too long permitting those evils to shadow their lives.

When Annabeth glanced back to where Jason sat, she found him staring at Piper in much the same way Piper had been staring at him – longing and desperation and hope. The plane’s engines revved, their taxi to the runway beginning, and Annabeth knew she’d been right about the next week being make or break.

Hopefully day one wouldn’t drive them straight to _break_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> adding this note on 02/16/2021!
> 
> i've just heard back from my doctor that the infection i had hasn't cleared up after the first course of antibiotics, so i'm have to do another round. this means i'll be out of commission for another week. i'm super sorry, but antibiotics make me really sick and i just know i won't have the energy to do anything. hopefully this will be the last time we have to take a break tho. 💕
> 
> chapter 122 will be out on friday, february 26th! see you then.
> 
> UPDATE 02/24/21:
> 
> i didn't realize my antibiotic course this time around is 10 days instead of 7. I've been pretty miserable, as expected, and I know I'm not going to have the energy to get our chapter out on Friday. I'm going to take an extra week. We'll be back on 03/05. 💕


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